Into Eternity
by Artemis615
Summary: This story shall be the sequel to the famed, La Tua Cantante that everyone loves. Caius is served his dinner, and within his dinner, he found this rare, lily like fragrance and a taste of blood that he never tasted before in his life. He is suddenly plunged into a world full of Lara, and here, he started to fall for her. He wanted to make her his Queen with his love.
1. First Scent

**A/N: Hello everyone! This is my next story of Caius. I know some people has been requesting me to write this, and so I did! This story will also be the continuation of Blood Singer, La Tua Cantante. Caius will be reunited with his lover, Lara, and this story will explains how they meet and how they happen to fall in love together under the snow. Thank you for supporting this story and make this story come alive in this !**

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**1****st**** Night:**

**First Scent**

_Lara's POV_

Legends and myths had often told us of the unimaginable old wives tales that comes alive at night to roam the land. Derived from them, they are told to have skin as cold as ice, pale marble-like complexion, red lips, hypnotizing red eyes and their unearthly beauty that seemed to draw their prey into their embrace, and once they had their pray within their arms, they would kill their pray faster than any normal eyes could see, the red warm blood satisfying their lust and thirst as an animal unfit to be called humans. They are designed in a way that their beauty would lure innocent prey towards them like a moth does to a flame, unsuspecting of the predator lying in wait in the darkness. In the old days, their kind goes by many names; the nightwalker, the cold ones, the undead, and many more.

They are widely known around the world as Vampires.

Then came the Volturi; a family. A very old, very powerful coven of the night walkers; they are the closest thing that the vampire world has to a royal family, ruled over by the three most powerful and influential vampires the vampire world ever have after the Romanian Vampire Princes; Aro, Caius, and Marcus. They enforce the law, dealing swiftly and decisively with anything they consider a threat to their city and to the vampire world. Thousands of years older than any vampires, hundreds of times more powerful than any vampires, and an army of powerful, gifted vampires standing around them. With their command, this army would dive in swiftly for the kill, and they are the reason why vampires were so careful to not just kill a random human off the streets and left traces of a vampire's work behind.

Not unless they wanted to be destroyed by the Volturi and have their immortality taken away, which means returning back to the grave.

They had carefully kept the history hidden, and full, pure-blooded vampires roamed the grounds instead of an untamable immortal children, who were too young to be taught and be controlled and too much of a taboo to even brought up the subject as normal table talk. Many vampires sacrificed themselves to protect the uncontrollable little angels, and many more were taught of the new rule that whoever created an immortal child would be executed. Intelligent vampires kept the vampires around the world in check by setting up a powerful coven, like the Volturi, and vampires around the world obeyed them and accepted them as their rulers. They are the very foundation of peace and civilization. They live in shadows and kept themselves well hidden from the knowledge of humans. Nobody is allowed to know about them, and if they did, they would be given the choice of either rotting in a coffin as a corpse, or be turned into beauties that fed on the blood of humans.

It was either a horrifying end or a beautiful start; that is the only given choices, as they are not known to give second chances.

As he leaned in with his wonderfully red lips, I leaned back and allowed him full access to my life, one hand securing the back of his head to my neck with a firm hold onto his soft blonde hair. As I feel Caius's fangs sank into my neck, I closed my eyes and let myself be taken over by the sudden rush of power and pain brought upon by his venom. For so much pain, there was so much pleasure in it as well. For the cold emitted by his hands upon the back of my neck, I felt warmth within me, burning me up from the inside out. For such a beautiful man, he had such terrible feeding habits, monstrous even.

And yet, somewhere far within my heart, I longed for his touch. I have waited so long in my life for such a touch that gives me this feeling I'm feeling right now. I know – then and there – that for his touch, I would willingly give up my life…

**********-CaiusxLara-**********

It was a windy day when Lara's tour group arrived at the ancient city of Volterra. Visiting Volterra has been a dream of hers since she was young, and after she had graduated from high school, she could finally treat herself to something good.

"Won't your family miss you?" said one of her so-called _friend, _as she recalled back her days in high school. She never had any close friends to start, let alone _friends_ to begin with. Amy, as the girl is called, just wanted to join in the fame of being friends with the prettiest girl in Emerald High. "I mean, you know families. They're all sticky and icky when it comes to the girls in the family. They won't even let me go travel alone! It's like they're my self-appointed bodyguard or something, you know? Like, they won't let me out of their sight and all, you know?"

Lara merely smiled, not noticing that in doing so she had stopped a few guys in their tracks. Amy raised one hand and waved seductively to the guys, who then, upon noticing Lara's so called sidekick waving at them, waved back awkwardly before moving on to their own respective lives.

Everybody knows how much of a relationship-wreaker Amy is. Slut, whore, bitch, boyfriend-stealer; everyone called her names behind her back. She just didn't notice it, is all.

"My last living relatives had died last month," Lara said with an earnest tone. "I'm alone in the world now."

"Oh, is it?" said Amy in a daze, staring at the oh-so-gorgeous football star, Daniel Meringuez, not realizing at all that the football star is staring at Lara, trying to catch her eyes. "That sounded sad."

"And I do appreciate it if you would just stop talking with me at all," said Lara, gathering her books with a grace that only an lady would, and stood up elegantly. "Your presence will only draw unwanted attention from all those annoying boys to me."

"Oh, is it?" Amy replied, still in a daze. The football star Daniel followed Lara with his eyes, and while he did that, Amy did too, and finally noticing that Lara had left her behind.

There was a reason why Amy is the only one who keeps sticking around her. Most of the girls have noted that Lara held a certain amount of confidence in her that could make any girls felt small with just a glance of her eyes, a rare dark green with a diamond-shaped hazel flanks. Even the bravest men came up to her to ask for a date, only to chicken out at the last minute, appearing intimidated by her gaze alone. Amy is the only stupid one who is rude enough to not look at people's eyes when they're talking, thus there was no reasons for her to felt intimidated by Lara at all.

Breathing a long and deep breath, she smiled at her new found freedom. Her last living relative, her granny, had passed away peacefully, leaving behind an infinite amount of family fortune for her only living descendant. She loved her grandmother, but she knew that the elder woman would want her to be happy and not wallow in self-pity and tears for years before moving on and accepting the truth that her granny has passed away into the other world. She put up a brave smile and takes a deep breath, savoring the freedom as a graduate student, free to do what she wishes and what she wanted to do.

There was a strangely sweet scent in the air. It was not the scent of fresh grass or old historical buildings; it was also not the smell of food and coffee. Strangely sweet, and strangely fragrant and addictive; Lara dismissed them as the smell of freedom.

There was the sound of hands clapping in the air, and Lara turned to the source of the sound.

It was the gorgeous and beautiful tour-guide, Heidi.

She never knew somewhere out there in the world such a beautiful woman is here in existence; hell, she could easily beat off this year's Miss World if she happened to join it. She could effortlessly make the heads of both males and females turn just by a single blindingly beautiful smile from her seductively red lips.

But strangely, Heidi seemed to despise her.

For what reason, she did not know. Others seemed to think that because Lara is pretty enough to be a competition.

"Alright, people!" Heidi announced to the tour group in a lovely musical voice, entrancing a few people to a daze. "Gather around, I have a small announcement to speak of."

The travelers immediately gathered around her, man and woman alike, trying to be as close to her as they could to gaze up to their tour guide's lovely visage. When the tour guide is satisfied of the group's crowding around her, she smiled at them sweetly and started to speak.

"The sun has set and so has our sightseeing activities for today. I hope you are satisfied with what I'm showing you."

Immediately, the crowd's voices of satisfaction erupted around her, interrupting the tour guide. They were extremely satisfied with having such a beauty of a tour guide to guide them around the town for sightseeing, even gladder that she is going to accompany them for the rest of their tour here in Italy. Heidi flashed a blindingly beautiful wide smile to the crowd, a response to their enthusiastic responses.

"Tomorrow," she started with a lovely musical note, "We will be visiting the art gallery in here," she said, one pale white hand gesturing the city around them. "Volterra," she exclaimed. "-known also as the 'little city full of arts'. According to the myths and legends of this city, it is once said to be overrun with vampires."

She paused for the dramatic effect. Lara could see that there are a several few of them who shivered at the mention of vampires. Probably prone to watching horror movies, she thought to herself, while others just put up a brave front. But for Lara, she does not appeared dazed in the slightest bit.

Vampires, in her opinions, are just myths and legends. They came from there, they stay there, and they'll be there for the rest of eternity.

For her, they're just mere legends, nothing more than myths and old wives tales.

"So," Heidi snapped her hands together, snapping a few dazed people back to reality. "Tomorrow, at 8.a.m sharp, we'll be gathering in this hotel's lobby. There will be a festival celebrating the banishment of vampires known as St. Marcus Day tomorrow, so we won't want to get stuck in the middle of a festival."

Everyone nodded excitedly. Smiling, Heidi lead the crowd to the hotel's lobby to take their keys.

The tour group that Lara had signed up for is a tour for arts. They would be visiting Italy's famed artistically places, ranging from the architecturally built buildings to performed dances at the opera to paintings. Tomorrow, they would be visiting paintings. Heidi had already painted an image into the tour group's mind; how they would enter an underground art gallery, and how they would be shown around by three devilishly handsome curators. Paintings and artworks decorated every hallway, and they were all rare and beautifully drawn and sculpted on, and each artworks and paintings have a unique story of their own. The best thing is, all three of the devilishly handsome curators would be the one to guide them through the underground art gallery.

At the end of Heidi's story, Lara couldn't wait for tomorrow to come earlier.

Just as she smiles giddily to herself, a silver key appears right in front of her eyes. Reflexively, Lara caught it just as it fell into her hand.

"Please pay attention when I explain something, Miss Elfreya," Heidi said crossly, although she sounded just as normal as if she were smiling and talking to Lara. "Or you might just find yourself lost. Again" she added in dismay.

"I'm sorry, Heidi," Lara apologized quickly. "I'm just recalling some old thoughts," Lara added, smiling sheepishly to the beauty glaring at her right now.

Huffing a little, Heidi frowned upon the girl standing right in front of her.

"Come," beckoned Heidi. "You've made a special request earlier regarding the room you wanted. I'll show it to you if you would just follow me, Miss Elfreya."

"Thank you, Heidi," thanked Lara gratefully and followed Heidi, determining to not once again get lost while looking around.

**********-CaiusxLara-**********

The elevator gave a light 'ding' when it finally stopped at Level 4, the highest and topmost floor of the Royal Castle, which is really a hotel built with a castle-like grounds and structure. Metal door sliding open, Heidi and Lara both stepped out of the elevator, being the very last of the tour group to be escorted to their rooms.

"Your room number is 394," said Heidi musically, rolling her eyes even as she walks, feeling as if she could be doing better stuff than leading this 'stupid' girl to her room. "It is exactly as you described, and everything is done according to what you've requested today."

"Thanks for all the troubles," Lara said gratefully, following Heidi on her heels. "I wouldn't mind sleeping in a regular room like the other tourists, but I just couldn't get used to all the arrangements. I'm not that fond of living in a hotel room. They made me felt as if I've just moved into a new room."

Heidi's perfect eyebrow ached slightly at her comment as they rounded up a corner. "Isn't a new room better than an old musty study room?" she asked curiously. "New rooms smells lovely, especially the hotel rooms, with all those fresh linens and quilt. The other people in the tour group do just fine, and they're happy with the rooms I've provided for them. You're the very first one to come up with the idea of rejecting the good room and instead occupying a used room."

"No they aren't," Lara chuckled, admiring the portraits hung on the corridors as they passed them by, her fingers skimming each portrait's surface. "New rooms felt cold and empty. And then there's that noise, like when you're staying in an airtight space or room and there's a constant humming sound in your ear. It's weird, I know. I'm probably the only one who hears this anyway."

"Well, anyway," Heidi stopped in front of a door, its golden numberings shining in the hallway's light. "Here we are," she announced dramatically, once again rolling her eyes at Lara, who had missed them twice in a row. "This will be your room for tonight."

Heidi unlocked the door with a single swipe of the hotel's card and opened the door, a loud creaking sound vibrated in the hallway. Lara stepped into the room with Heidi's gestures and placed her luggage and baggage on the floor with a heavy 'thunk'. Heidi smirked to herself as she flipped open the light switch, a light yellow luminosity from the chandelier hanging on the ceiling flooded light into every inch of the room.

Lara widened her eyes in amazement. "Oh my God…" she whispered, disbelieve heavy in her voice as Heidi smiled triumphantly behind her.

Lara had previously requested for a room that has – if it was even possible to get – previously occupied by someone who reads a lot. It would be a troublesome matter for any tour guide, but not for Heidi.

Heidi is a renowned tour guide with superb skills of touring people around. She is graceful, patient, smelled good, and even took smiling as a hobby of hers. She can fulfill each and everyone's needs in mere seconds, and she would never say 'no' to a request.

Never.

At least, that's what Lara had heard from one of the almost-senile senior citizen in her tour group when they're walking around, his old perverted eyes directed at Heidi's full bosom and rear end. For Lara, Heidi is someone who is too kind to say 'no'.

Lara touched the single bed with her fingertips, feeling the fresh linen and comforter. She tried sitting in the chair in front of a working table full of books and papers; she visited the bathroom and skimmed over the stained countertops, assumed to gain such forms by some perfumes and facial creams that got spilled on it. She pulled the curtains apart and opened the windows wide, letting the cool night air brush her cheeks in a refreshing way. Not to mention the view here is superb, better than anything she had ever seen in her life. Even better than a Christmas tree in a town square.

She turned back to Heidi sharply, her long ponytail slapping her chest in response. She smiled wide and gratefully to Heidi, who had waited by the door for her response.

"This feels so much like home!" Lara exclaimed happily, her eyes twinkling with her smile.

Heidi's smile faltered, her shoulders slipping from the doorframe when she leaned on it earlier. "Pardon me?"

"Oh, you're so sweet," Lara said, her delight heavily laced in her tone of voice, "Oh my God! This is just what I wanted! It feels so homey, and so many books," Lara skimmed her hands over the leather bound books that lay cluttered on the working table. "Oh, my favorite author is here too! Goodness, I can't thank you enough for all the troubles!"

Lara missed the slight fell on Heidi's angelic face.

For a moment, the beautiful tour guide didn't know what to say. She never met someone so accepting and so…simple. Most girls her age would go for the most expensive room, if possible. But she- Lara didn't.

"I'm…glad this room is to your liking, Miss Elfreya-"

"Please," Lara turned around, one hand stopping the tour guide from saying anything further. "Just Lara; Miss Elfreya sounds so strange even to me." She looked around the room and waved her hand, gesturing towards the room's arrangement. "I am very pleased of this room's particular arrangements. I love it. Thank you."

Heidi never heard such a sincere appreciation before that it somehow made her speechless for a moment, unable to take her strangely colored eyes from Lara.

The beautiful tour guide alias vampire 'fisherman' finds that Lara's eyes strangely intimidating. Heidi didn't like the feeling of a little mere human overpowering her with a mere fleeting gaze, but she couldn't help but to compare the feeling of Lara's nerve-racking gaze with the gaze of all her vampire kings; Aro, Marcus, and Caius. They were so very alike yet different in some ways.

After a long pause, she replied in a defeated tone, "I suppose… you are welcomed." Her change in tone surprises Lara a little, thinking that she might be tired from all her duties the whole day. They had driven for hours from the airport, and Heidi had been entertaining them for hours. "If there is anything else, please, don't be afraid to knock on my door. I'll be happy to be of any assistance to you."

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you," Lara thanked her. "It's very late, and you must be tired. Please, rest, for I know we'll be having a tight schedule tomorrow."

Lara didn't notice Heidi's beautiful features become hard-edged. Forcing a perfectly sincere smile, Heidi smiled at her and said, "Well, then, I'm off to rest. Have a good night."

"Good night and sweet dreams," Lara replied back sincerely.

She stood in her room for more than 5 minutes to admire the homely room. It was slightly messy and not at all neat and tidy like a hotel room ought to have, but she loved it nonetheless. She is sure that it was someone else's room, and that the person had been studying about Greek myths. She loved myths, and she was planning to start her college with a mythological subject. Just by thinking about her future and the things she wanted to do with her life bring a dreamy smile to her face.

Then she smelled it again; it was so fragrant and exotic that for a moment, she thought that there was someone else in her room that smelled like that, but there's no one. She looked around the room, up and down the bed, and there's still no one around. For a moment, she thought that she had mistaken her sense of smell, and had almost proceeded to ignore it when she finally noticed the curtain dancing in the light breeze coming from outside the room. Ignoring them, she stripped herself off her clothes and stepped into the bathroom, determining to get a warm hot bath.

After she was done, she headed for the balcony, lights out and barefooted as she stared up into the skies. The skies were clearer while the stars far brighter than any place she has been to. It was beautiful, and she wished she could just stay up forever and stare at them till the end of time.

That is, until the fragrant smell came back and disturbed her thoughts. This time, she saw a cloaked figure stood high upon a roof, looking down at the city with a pair of mesmerizingly beautiful red eyes. It chilled her down to her spine, the intensity of the eyes so serious and feral, mystifying yet intimidating at the same time.

Then the figure turned their eyes and looked straight at her. She gasped in surprise, feeling bare all of a sudden, as if her clothes have fallen off of her body and she is stripped nude for all the world to see her assets. The outline of a man staring at her straight into her soul brought down another wave of chill down her spine, making her shiver in astonishment. She knows this is no human being, and by her instinct, she know, this man is dangerous. Maniacs and psycho killers couldn't have possibly be more dangerous than this man, whose eyes felt so cold and lonely, growing wild and lonelier, as if he's suffering from a lifetime of loneliness.

Wait.

_This couldn't be right,_ she thought. How does she know that it's a man? Now that she noticed it, the figure's hood has fallen off and revealed a man- no, an angel, who still stands tall and regal, cloak bellowing in the night wind. He's a beautiful man, perfectly sculpted marble-like skin and light blonde hair.

And in a blink of an eye, he's gone.

She blinked her eyes a few times, shaking her head out of any reverie to convince her that the beautiful man is not just a figment of her imagination. Looking around, she finds no trace of the cloaked figure.

"That's such a shame," she said to herself out loud, turning back to retire for the night, deciding to leave the windows open. "It's just my imagination…"

**********-CaiusxLara-**********

As Heidi stood by the window overseeing part of Volterra in her nightgown, the phone perched on her nightstand blared loudly into the quiet night.

Picking up the phone, Heidi is greeted by the cool voice of Alec before she could greet the caller.

"Heidi," Alec said, his voice sounding even more monotonous through the phone. "Aro wishes to inquire about dinner tomorrow."

Heidi smiles; she loves it when Aro inquires about her. It made her sound rather important. "Tomorrow's dinner is fine. It will be served hot on silver platters in the afternoon."

She could feel Alec smile behind the phone. "Very well then. We shall be ready when you arrive."

"I promise you, Alec, it shall be a meal you'll never forget," Heidi smiles almost wickedly, eager to please the Ancient King she knew is waiting behind the call.

Alec almost barked in laughter. "And we could hardly wait."


	2. The Scent of Death and Lilies

**2****nd**** Night:**

**The Scent of Death**

The next morning came without anyone realization. Lara woke up refreshed, remembering the previous disappointing night when she saw the open windows. Believing that the beautiful man in a cloak is a mere figment of her imagination, she sighed to herself.

_Maybe I should just be a writer with such an imaginative mind like mine,_ she thought to herself, musing at the idea of sitting in front of a computer writing stories in thick-framed glasses, surrounding herself with cats instead of men. Smiling at the irony, she swung her feet out of the bed's comfort and jumped into a warm shower.

There was a knock on her door after she came out from the bath. With a towel rubbing her still wet hair, Lara opens the door and came across a surprised Heidi, whose hand had poised in mid air preparing to give her door another knock.

"Oh," Lara exclaimed in surprise. "Good morning, Heidi! What a surprise! Do you have a good night's sleep?"

Lara admired the fact that Heidi looks beautiful in anything she wears. Today in particular, she is dressed to emphasize that beauty she possesses. Her amazingly long legs, darkened with tights, were exposed by the shortest of miniskirts. Her top was long-sleeved and high-necked, but extremely close-fitting, and constructed of red vinyl. Her long mahogany hair was lustrous, and her eyes were the strangest shade of violet.

Heidi smiles pleasantly at her. "Good morning, Lara. I have a very pleasant night, thank you. I came up here to give you a head start that breakfast will be served soon in the cafeteria. I urge you to come quickly. Today's breakfast is superb."

"Thank you, Heidi!" Lara said happily. More than anything, everyone knows Lara loves eating more than sightseeing. She could basically wolf down a roasted beef in less than half an hour all on her own. "I'll be down in a minute. I'll just pack everything and get dressed."

"Very well then," Heidi said with a smile. "I'll see you downstairs then."

"Later then," Lara smiles and closes the door. Turning around, Lara stretches herself and rummage through her luggage to find something decent to wear. Noting that today is Saint Marcus Day, Lara settles for a white little dress, not wanting to get too hot.

**********-CaiusxLara-**********

Heidi leads the towards the castle city atop the closest hill. The ancient sienna walls and towers crowning the peak of the steep hill made the who city looked uniquely beautiful, yet at some strange point, Lara felt that the beautiful city looked a little terrifying at the same time, as if there are unknown dangers lying underneath somewhere, making her tremble slightly at the thought.

The people crowding toward the gate gripped their hats and tugged their hair out of their faces. Their clothes billowed around them. She also noticed that the color red was everywhere. Red shirts, red hats, red flags dripping like long ribbons beside the gate, whipping in the wind – as she watched, the brilliant crimson scarf one woman had tied around her hair was caught in a sudden gust. It twisted up into the air above her, writhing like it was alive. The woman reached for it, jumping in the air, but it continued to flutter higher, a patch of bloody color against the dull, ancient walls.

It was Saint Marcus Day. The city holds a celebration every year in honor of their legend. As the legend goes, a Christian missionary – a Father Marcus-Marchs of the Voltun, in fact – drove all the vampires from Volterra fifteen hundred years ago. It was told that he was martyred in Romania, and that he is still trying to drive away the vampire scourge. Crosses and garlic were told to be of use, and that Father Marcus had used them so successfully in driving away vampires. It was a legend worth remembering, and everyone make it a note to celebrate the holy event in the city as recognition for the police force. In honor of the day, everyone would wear something red as a tribute to the deceased Holy Father. After all, Voltera is an amazingly safe city.

The crowd stretched on and on the red and grey brick road. Heidi guides them with her voice and the swinging of her hips, turning them onto a little path that couldn't have been meant for cars. There is another street at the end of the street, a small pathway that is so discretely hidden by the shadows of the day. The buildings were taller here; they leaned together overhead so that no sunlight touched the pavement-the trashing red flags on either side nearly met. The lovely tour guide waved her hand and shouted over the crowd, "Stay together! Don't wander around as you could very well get lost here! Stick to your group! We had a tight schedule here!"

The street was very narrow, cobbled with the same color stones as the faded cinnamon brown buildings that darkened the street with their shade. It had the feel of an alleyway. Red flags decorated the walls, spaced only a few yards apart, flapping in the wind that whistled through the narrow lane.

Suddenly, the street widens up. The darkened street lights up into a more warm red brick color, and soon, they have come up to the grand front door made of heavy iron that no man but machines and monsters could move.

"Come on in, everyone!" Heidi called after knocking on the iron door, which creeps open in an agonizingly slow movement. Everyone shuffles quickly into the room behind the iron door, and when it closes, Lara turns around and catches a glimpse of the sunlight streaming down into the room a few seconds later. Strangely, she felt as if that would be the last time she would see sunlight. Shrugging to herself, Lara followed the quickly disappearing group down a hallway.

Lara observes whatever her eyes could see in the dark dim light. It would seem that the curators do not want the paintings to be done in by manmade light. She had to admit, it is a great idea to keep the paintings fresh and untarnished by age. But then the moisture would have been an inescapable ending for the paintings. Lara rolled her eyes. _Stop thinking too much, _she thought to herself._ There must be a reason why arts are stored down here._

Soon, they came upon a posh office reception area. The walls were paneled in wood, the floors carpeted in thick, deep green, muffling the sound of footsteps. There were no windows, but large, brightly lit paintings of the Tuscan countryside hung everywhere as a replacements. Pale leather couches were arranged in cozy groupings, and the glossy tables held crystal vases full of vibrantly colored bouquets. Oddly, the flowers' smell reminded her of a funeral home.

The walls in the middle of the room were a high, polished mahogany counter. Lara couldn't help but to gawk in astonishment at the woman behind it.

She was tall, with dark skin and green eyes. Lara guessed that she would have been very pretty under the sunlight. Bowing slightly at the tour group from behind the polished mahogany counter, the receptionist smiles politely in welcome, "Good afternoon, Heidi, and welcome travelers," she said. "The curators of this place have been waiting for your arrivals."

On the other side of the wooden doors was a different kind of reception. The pale boy in the pearl gray suit has dark hair and adequately full lips. His piercing eyes and unsmiling face made him looked very much like a stone statue. None the less, he is just as lovely as Heidi.

"Hello Alec," Heidi greeted the pale boy, who nodded his head in return.

"They are waiting for your arrival," he replied in a musical tune. The eyes of all the other unsuspecting tour people immediately turned towards him, smiling widely at the beauty this very boy possesses. With another nod from Heidi, the tour guide leads the group through another wide, ornate hall – Lara was starting to think that the halls were made out of a never-ending labyrinth. Nobody noticed the hungry looks Alec gave the tourists, licking his lips absentmindedly, as if reminded of the delicious meal awaiting him at any moment from now.

There was a small petite woman in their tour group. She wore a long, floral-patterned dress and black velvet flats. Her hair was a mousy grey, and her wide, glossy eyes and small mouth and nose made up for the rodent description. She gave her surroundings a nervous scan, seemingly shivering as well the further they went into the never-ending hall. She looked so fearful of everything, and looked as if she'll jump at the smallest noise and touch.

Reaching out to the woman, Lara places one of her hand gently on the poor woman's shoulder and asked sympathetically, "Are you alright, madam?"

As expected, the small woman jumped in shock and held her crucifix closer to her chest, her eyes wide with fear unknown to many.

"Yes," she replied a tad bit too quickly for her words to really mean it. When Lara continues to watch her, the lady nodded her head quickly and repeated, "Yes I'm quite fine, thank you, dear."

Lara smiles soothingly at her. "I do hope you're fine. You look awful."

"I think I'm beginning to regret coming here at all," the lady finally confesses, her eyes darting everywhere in quick short glances, as if wanting to see every inch at once just so that there could be nothing that could surprise her out of the blue. It was as if she's expecting a booby trap to pop out any minute.

"Why is that?" Lara asked while trying to keep up with the group. "This place is wonderful, and we're not even in the actual art gallery yet!" Lara said excitedly, her eyes locked on a beautiful statue placed by the sides of the winding corridor.

"There's evil in this place," the lady hissed, her eyes glaring at Heidi from behind. "I can feel it deep in my bones, and that woman is leading us right to hell!"

"I'm sure she's not, Mademoiselle," Lara said, starting to look a little wary. Now that the lady had said it, she began to notice that this place is irritatingly cold, and that Heidi is starting to walk a little bit faster, appearing as if she is anxious about something. It looked strange on the usually calm and collected tour guide. Heidi would usually walk behind them on a tour, and she would always wait for people to enjoy their tour. Lara and the lady are well left behind by the group, and yet Heidi paid no attention to them and walked towards an opening at the end of the hallway, revealing a dome-like hall with little sunlight shone in from the top of the dome-like ceiling.

"Well this is unusual," a man's coarse voice boomed from amongst the tour group.

"So medieval," an unpleasantly shrill, female voice gushed back. Lara rolled her eyes. She hated that woman. She might just be one of the most unpleasant women she has ever met. She liked to nose around people's business – especially family gossips – and when she did find a new juicy gossip, she would share it with the other tourists group, revealing others secrets and gossips straight down to the core.

A tall buff man passes the tour group by. When he bypasses Heidi, he motioned for the little group he is guiding out to make room. They even pressed back against the cold wall just to let the large tour group to pass.

_That's so kind of them,_ Lara thought to herself. She briefly caught an eye contact with one of the good-looking man wearing a red cloak. He smiles at her in a crooked grin, and she had the strangest idea that he knew what she had thought.

The couple in front of her – Americans from the sound of them – glanced around themselves with appraising eyes. Lara smiles back politely and shrugged. _Nobody could read minds these days, _she thought to herself._ Not unless you're Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood._

"Leave some for me," the man passes Heidi said with a crooked grin of hers.

Heidi smiles back in her equally beautiful crooked grin. "Hurry up or you'll get the leftovers."

With that, the group separated.

Lara noted to herself in a strange way that the temperature underneath the city is cold – wintry, even. It strikes her as odd how up there in the city people were complaining about the heat, and no second after they've come down to this part of the city their teeth starts to chatter. Lara rubbed her arms for extra warmth. True, the bone-piercing cold here feels too strange to her liking.

Heidi ignored the doors at the end of the hall-doors entirely sheathed in gold – stopping halfway down the hall and sliding aside a piece of the paneling to expose a plain wooden door. It wasn't locked, and she opened it only to reveal another antechamber. Though not as large as the one she had seen earlier, it opened quickly into a brighter, cavernous room, perfectly round like a huge castle turret.

_Which was probably exactly what it was,_ thought Lara as she follows the group closely.

Two stories up, long window slits threw thin rectangles of bright sunlight onto the stone floor below. There were no artificial lights. The only furniture in the room were several massive wooden chairs – three, to be exact – like thrones, that were spaced unevenly, flush with the curving stone walls. In the very center of the circle, in a slight depression, was another drain.

The room was not empty. A handful of people were convened in seemingly relaxed conversation. The murmur of low, smooth voices was a gentle hum in the air. As Lara watched ahead, a pair of pale women in summer dresses paused in a patch of light, and – like prisms – their skin threw the light in rainbow sparkles against the sienna walls, sending several of the curious tourists to gasp in delight, thinking that they were just a part of a piece of – Lord knows – human arts. Lara bit her lips in anticipation, sensing the strange dread she felt earlier.

The exquisite faces all turned toward our party as we entered the room. Most of them were dressed in inconspicuous pants and shirts-things that wouldn't stick out at all on the streets below. But the man who spoke first wore one of the long robes. It was pitch-black, and brushed against the floor. For a moment, Lara thought that his long, jet-black hair was a part of the hood of his cloak.

"Heidi, dear one, you've returned!" he cried in evident delight. His voice was just a soft sighing, musical, even, as he drifted forward, and the movement flowed with such surreal grace that everyone gawked in awe. Lara almost falls prey to the beautiful appearance and snapped her mouth close quickly. She was only more astonished as he floated closer and I could see his face clearly.

It was not like the unnaturally attractive faces that surrounded him – he did not approach the tour group alone; the entire group seemed to converge around him, some following, and some walking ahead of him with the strange alert manner of a bodyguard. Lara couldn't decide if his face was beautiful or not. Supposed the features were perfect beyond explanation. But he was as different from the vampires beside him as they were from her.

His skin was translucently white, almost akin to onionskin, and it looked just as delicate. It stood in shocking contrast to the long black hair that framed his face, stranger still than Heidi's marble-white face. Lara felt a sudden strange notion – a horrifying urge, even, to reach out and touch his cheek, to see if it was softer – or if it was powdery – like chalk. His eyes were red; the same as the others around him, but the color was clouded, milky. Lara half wondered if his vision was affected by the haze.

He glided towards Heidi, took her face in his papery hands, kissed her lightly on her full lips, and then floated back a step, surveying the scene in front of him.

"Yes, Master." Heidi smiled widely; the expression made her look like an angel. "I fished them fresh, just as you wished."

He turned his misty eyes toward Lara's tour group, and the smile brightened – it became ecstatic.

His filmy eyes scanned the crowds and smiled at a selected few people in the groups.

Behind him floated two more black-robed men. Both looked very much like Aro, one even had the same flowing black hair. The other had a shock of snow-white hair – the same shade as his face – that brushes against his shoulders.

It was then Lara noticed that they looked just like him – the thin onion-like skin, the misty red eyes, the extraordinary beauty the possesses that made them look heartbreakingly good-looking. The other black haired man also took his time to scan the crowds, nodding at some of the people and smiling at them in an odd, hungry way. Lara compared his looks to a hungry, ready-to-pounce lion.

The white-haired man drifted away, gliding towards one of the wooden thrones and made himself comfortable on it. She shifted her gaze towards this man. His appearance appears as a total polar opposite with the other two men. It was not just his snowy blonde hair that appears almost silvery white under the weak glow of the light, appearing out of place with the other dark haired man and only serves to emphasize the paleness of his complexion. This man in particular also chooses to stare at her in a strangely hungry way, albeit in a more relaxed way, leaning back towards the throne chair he now sat and smiles down at her.

When he smiles, it suddenly strikes her in a way that it was impossible to look away from him. They were mesmerizing in an odd, unpleasant way, not to mention that his hair and face looked so familiar to her in a way that she couldn't even began to put a name to it.

"Welcome, guests! Welcome to Volterra!" the man sing from the big turret room, jolting her from the staring contest she is having with the snow-haired man. It was then the man began to introduce himself and the others in the room to the tourists.

"I am Aro," the one introducing himself as Aro started, his eyes scanning the crowds in a hungry way. "The one sitting on my right hand side is Marcus, and my left is known as Caius…"

The rest of the tour group filed in after the American couple. Some studied the setting like tourists. A few even snapped pictures. Others looked confused, as if the story that had led them to this room was not making sense anymore.

"We are known throughout our world as the Volturi, the three ruling Kings in this present time."

Lara looked around suspiciously. The small, dark lady that had talked to her earlier gripped her rosary tightly in one hand, walking more slowly than the others and touching someone now and then, asking a question in a new, unfamiliar language. No one seemed to understand her, and her voice grew more panicked.

"Heidi?" Lara called, a little anxious with the now closed room and the advancing curators. "What is happening here?"

Heidi smiles in a fake, guilty way at her. "Lara. Dear Lara. You are so observant of your surroundings." Lara gave Heidi and the rest of the curators a glaring look, not liking the situation that she and the others are in right now.

In a sudden flash, Heidi stood right in front of her and held her face sideways, stunning Lara with her monstrous speed. "I am the Fisher and the Bait, while you the rest of the tour group are our dinner tonight."

Just as Lara widens her eyes, Heidi disappeared from her sight and devoured a man standing right beside her, his blood spurted out in fountains and stained her white sundress.

Shocked at the sudden spurt of blood, Lara stumbles backward and watches as the rest of the strange, beautiful creature disappearing from their respective spots on the throne-like chair, already feasting upon a second victim, their blood spurting everywhere while bloodcurdling screams reverberate around the hall.

"This cannot be happening," Lara whispered, feeling her voice trembles at the sight of the bloodbath. Two of the dark-haired curators sank their teeth in people's neck one after another, sucking them dry and leaving them dead on the ground, pale as corpse, without an ounce of guilt in them, only to dive for another one in the panicking crowd. Lara compares the scene to lions pouncing on the farmer's lamb, which had nowhere else to go but run and skip around in the closed hall. There were smiles on their faces, and they seemed to enjoy it the more their victims scream.

The cold touch Heidi had given her, the razor-sharp teeth that seem to sink into sinews, muscles and bones as easy as one sinks their teeth into a chiffon cake, the beautiful features of all the predators and their strange, red eyes. Lara learned the truth in the hard way, watching the tourists being devoured one by one, and blood soaking up everywhere.

"You're all vampires…!" Lara said in realization, her legs almost buckled in fear. A sudden flash of white later and the third curator – the snow-haired one – flashed right in front of her with a wide evil grin on his handsome face.

Leaning close to her, the snow-haired curator ran the back of his cold digits from her temple to her cheek in a strange, gentle way and said almost gleefully, "You are correct, my dear. I am surprised. No human has lasted this long to guess who we are. You are the very first, and therefore I allow you to live a little longer and see how we vampires dine."

With another flash, the vampire disappears from her sight.

She stood there for a long moment, dazed with the discovery that vampires still exists. She had not expected her first trip to end in such a way. Surely, death is coming for her soon as she watches all the tourists being devoured one by one, slowly leaving her sides and leaving her standing there alone as they scrambled around the closed hall for an escape route.

Then she realizes that she is truly going to die. Obviously there is no escape route in this hall. Predators are all around her, and she couldn't possibly open that heavy hall door. She couldn't fight the vampires with mythological stuff, since she had seen the little lady pressing a crucifix onto the vampire feeding her and it does nothing. Heidi herself wore silver rings and necklaces, so silver are out. Then there was that garlic – one of the tourists love garlic bread, and ate them almost every day, and he is the first one to die. None of the old wives tales is helping, and she came to an understanding that nothing works against these invincible vampires. If she is going to die without able to fight them, then she might as well do it with pride.

Lara held her head up high and forces herself to calm down. The piercing cold of the antechamber is slowly getting into her bones, and it is not helping the situation at all when she could already feel her teeth chattering noisily. Balling her fists up, Lara dug her fingernails into the palm of her hands and forces her to stand still.

Her efforts do not fail her.

The white-haired vampire came whizzing back into her view with a wide-bloodied smile on his face. Even if he is a vampire, Lara had to admit that he looked very handsome – beautiful, even. So beautiful that she couldn't bear to look away from him and his dreadful bright red eyes. His gaze, although dark with hunger, stares calmly into hers, as if he's calling to her with his eyes.

And like a hypnotized mental patient, she went up to him willingly.

"Is it my turn now, vampire?" Lara asked in a small voice. She could detect a flicker of surprise on the vampire's features, but they disappeared as soon as they flash into view. Raising one hand, he beckoned her to come to him. Without hesitating any further, Lara raised her own hand and places her trembling hand into his offered hand. His touch felt even colder than the air surrounding her, and she shivers involuntarily. He smiles at her response, appearing delighted with her.

Pulling her into his arms, Caius wrapped one hand around her waist delicately and leans into her neck, takes a deep whiff of her scents. His mouth instantly waters at just how delicious she smells. "It is, my dear," Caius said menacingly.

As he leaned in with his wonderfully red lips, Lara leans back and allowed him full access to her life with one hand securing the back of his head to her neck with a firm hold onto his soft blonde hair. His cold lips skimmed across the skin of her smooth neck, giving her neck a long lick before sinking his set of razor sharp teeth into her neck. Closing her eyes, Lara allows herself to be taken over by the sudden rush of power and pain brought upon by his venom. For so much pain, there was so much pleasure in it as well. For the cold emitted by his hands upon the back of her neck, Lara felt warmth within her, burning her up from the inside out. For such a beautiful man, Caius has such terrible feeding habits, monstrous even.

And yet, somewhere far within her heart, Lara longed for his touch. She has waited so long in her life for such a touch that gives her the feeling she is feeling right now. She knew, then and there, that for his touch, Lara would willingly give up her life.

Lara couldn't make out exactly what kind of noise she have emitted, but one thing for sure is that she wanted him closer and closer still till they merge together – till they become one. With one hand, she slung her arm around his neck and brought him closer to her, to which Caius growls at her response and pulled her tighter against his body till she couldn't breathe properly.

The pleasure from his touches is just too much that Lara has begun to feel a coil of sort coiling deep within her womb, edging her on. The heat and feel of his skin against hers eases the cold she have felt surrounding her, and the more he sucked her blood, the more she feels that everything is going to be alright.

And the more the pain escalates.

Suddenly, just so suddenly, Caius stopped sucking her blood. He releases his mouth from her bleeding neck and deliberately covers her bleeding neck with his hand, stopping her blood from spurting out through the large open wound. He breathes deeply against her neck – panting, even – as if he had just exhausted himself from some sport. The burning pain no longer feels like pleasure to Lara, and instead of feeling relieve, she feels lost without his touch, and the burning pain escalated in a sudden surge of poison entering her whole body, hitting her like a hundred tons of truck.

The burning pain of the vampire venom spreads fast into her bloodstream, sending unimaginable pain and fire blazing through her, in and out. Her mouth opens in a silent scream, realizing only minutes later that she is actually screaming her lungs out in the most bloodcurdling voice she had mustered in the midst of her pain. It is only that when the venom passes up her ear and up into her brain, her hearing is blocked and for a moment, everything is silent in her hearing when it is actually the opposite.

Her hands reach all around her, scratching and hitting and grasping tightly. Her visions are vague, and she couldn't remember how she get away from the vampire, because the next thing she knew she had started to grab and hurl priceless arts into the wall, shattering them into thousands of pieces, not caring even if they are the one and only piece left in the whole wide world. Expensive tapestries are ripped from the wall, flowers crushed under her frenzy as she continues to scream her lungs out in pain while the venom slowly changes her from within.

She could feel a pair of cold, strong hands restraining her movements, and it proves to be futile as her monstrous powers hurled the person restraining her into the carved walls, literally breaking the walls as blocks of bricks and cements came crashing down soon after. Seconds later, that pair of hands is back in restraining her, this time accompanied by a cool, silky voice.

"Let yourself go. Embrace it," Caius said almost soothingly, his hands continue to restrain her tightly. One of his hands moved to grasp her chin in his fingers from behind, turning her head a little to face him. She could feel his breath fanning her face, their faces inches from each other. "Embrace the pain and be one of us."

She screams again in another bloodcurdling cry, sweating profusely as her tears of pain slides down her face. God knows how long Caius held her, but she continues to scream and scream and scream.

Until everything is silent.

The pain suddenly dulled to a softer degree of pain. Relieved with the abrupt revoke of agony, Lara slumped down against the vampire holding her in place. With a sigh, the vampire pulled her to him and held her still in his arms.

With tired eyes, Lara glances up and found that the beautiful snow-haired vampire is looking down at her with a – what a strange look… was that concern in his face? Lara shakes her head slightly to herself. _No, it couldn't be, _she thought. _He bit me. He killed me. He made me this…_

And yet, despite all that, the feeling in her that she had felt towards him when they first met in the great hall surfaces back up to the front of her mind, sending her heart beating wildly at the thought that he is holding her in his arms patiently as she changes. He brushes her sweaty wet hair sticking to her forehead aside, running the back of his fingers from her temple to the sides of her face, and up again and down again on her cheek. The rhythmic stroke calms her down immensely.

"You're so beautiful…"she thought in a daze, not noticing that she said them out loud and that her hand is raised up towards him, reaching for his face and his amazingly smooth silky hair. Caressing his slightly smiling face with her fingers, Lara moved her hand up and slides her hand over his head, feeling the nice and silky hair beneath her fingers. She finds that she likes his hair, and continues her little ministration until her eyes met his again.

Caius allows her to touch his hair for a little while more until he decided that her time is up. Gently pulling her face up to his, Caius captures her gaze in his and holds her stare.

"You will come back," the snow-haired vampire said in a surprisingly gentle lulling voice, his eyes pierces through hers in a hypnotizing gaze that is impossible to look away. His magical voice and captivating eyes brought her under his enchantment in mere seconds upon her first gaze up to his eyes. Smooth and silky, his voice and eyes pulls her into him. "For now, you shall sleep. But you will come back to me. I will be here when you do."

"Come…back…?" she whispered tiredly, her vision starting to blur out and finding herself wanting to just sleep immediately as per his advice. "…From where…?" she murmured her last words out before finding herself sinking into a peaceful sleep.

Caius watches as she fell into a deep slumber without answering her, her eyes closed in what appears to be a peaceful deathly slumber, turning completely limp in Caius's arms, as if she were dead. After a while of gazing at her, Caius pulls her to him and takes a deep whiff of her scent in her hair. It was an impossibly mouthwatering scent, a mixture of a delectable innocent pure scent that tells him no man has ever touched her in an intimate manner before. He smiles to himself into her hair, disguising his sudden delight in the truth that she is a virgin behind her hair from the rest of the Volturi Kings.

Then, unmistakably, his superb senses as an extremely old vampire picked up another scent. This particular scent has the unique edge of a lily flower. The light sweetness and sensual soothing scent in it made her smells utterly exotic – fragrant, even, compelling him to sink his teeth in her again as his mouth watered. It had that kind of scent that made him wanted to keep on smelling it forever.

But he held back his desires. Holding himself in check, Caius stopped breathing for a moment and gathered her very much limp form in his arms almost carefully, turning towards the other two Kings of Volturi with a passive expression.

"Aro, Marcus," Caius addresses the two Kings of Volturi with a light nod of his head. "I shall be retiring to my chamber. You will not expect me to present myself in court for a fair few days at the least."

The other two Kings turns to regard each other with a questioning look on their faces. Marcus nodded his head at Aro once, while the older vampire smiles curtly at him. Stepping forward, Aro extended a hand towards Caius and asked, "May I?"

Caius gave him a resigned look and allows him to touch him.

A look of surprise and understanding came over Aro when his skin touches Caius's skin. Remaining silent, Aro places his hand on her forehead gently and gave an equally surprised look over the revelation of the truth that only he now currently knows.

"My God…," Aro said in an almost gasping tone.

"What is it, Aro?" Marcus said, stepping up and immediately felt the bond that had knitted between Caius and the girl in such a short time. "It can't be…"

"Caius, my brother," Aro said gently, bending over slightly so he could look into the snow-haired vampire's eyes. "How extraordinary, brother… None of us has met our other half before in all these years. Like the boy Edward, it is the inescapable truth that she is your La Tua Cantante…"

Turning his gaze back towards the girl, Aro stares almost longingly at her neck and snapped his gaze back at Caius. "It is unmistakable that the feelings you have for her is exactly what the eldest son of the Cullens are feeling for his Bella. You _must_ keep her, brother. She is born for you."

Caius, angry that Aro had exhibited the desire to want to bite his prey, snarled angrily and backed away from both Kings with Lara in his arms. "I myself will decide if she shall live or die, not you, Aro."

"Caius," Marcus started, causing Caius to snarl at him as well. "You must understand. It's been hundreds of years since you've used your spellbinding gift on someone, and yet you've done it on her in less than a second without any thoughts at all just so you could ease her pain a little and guide her from losing her way back to reality. The relationship you have for her is unlike anything I've ever seen. More intense and deeper than what the Edward boy is experiencing with his Bella – more passionate, and more delicate," When Caius glances up to meet Marcus's eyes, Marcus continues in a low tone. "She could very well be your one true soul mate."

Aro smiles delightfully at Caius, his eyes directed towards the girl held up almost protectively against Caius's chest, almost as if he wanted to shield her from the world. "She would be just wonderful, don't you think Marcus? I've begun to like her already. I wonder what kind of power she will have after she awakens from her transformation..."

"Nevertheless," Caius snapped unpleasantly, his temper rising as he glares at his brothers staring at the girl he held in his arms as if she were a new toy – or worse – a new dish to be served on a platter. No one else is to taste her apart from him, and he intends to keep it that way. "I will see to it on what is to be done to the girl. That is my decision, _brothers_."

Turning around sharply, Caius retreated to the Southern Wing, which is his own personal wing part of the palace. This girl is the answer to everything he is feeling right now, and answers he will have after she awakes into her new life. For now, she is to be kept safe beside him, away from the other vampires and prying eyes.


	3. Awakening to a New Sunset

**3****rd**** Night:**

**Awakening to a New Sunset**

It's been 7 days since the girl slipped into her transformation slumber. Caius had stayed in his room for that one week, coming out only to feed and returns to his chamber almost immediately, where he had kept his new little transforming vampire from the world. Any other normal transformation would have taken only a mere 2 days, no more and no less. But in her case – he scowled against the wall and sigh deeply. She has been asleep in her deathly slumber for 7 days. And that is not all.

For days, she slept on into her transformation, becoming paler and cooler to the touch. However, her vampire characteristics did not develop fully. Her skin still remains soft and warmer like that of a human's, although a tad bit harder and cooler than a normal human. Her hair – a long dark brown – is an almost identical shade with the Bella girl, Cullen's eldest son Edward's blood singer, albeit a little different with a few shades of raven locks. They grew longer and darker as day's passes by, retaining its lovely scent that Caius has taken a liking to. Her complexion – despite its paleness like any other vampire's skin – takes on a softer, rosier hue, seemingly painting her pale skin with colors that made her look all the more lovelier than she ever was. As he watches the transformation occurring ever so slowly right in front of his eyes, Caius had somehow came up with a thought that she might just be the loveliest vampire he had ever sets eyes upon.

Or it could just be his mating instinct taking over his mind and gushes romance craps into his ears.

And the strangest thing is that her heart beats on.

It was slow – strange even. The rhythmic sound of her heart does not beat as accordingly as a human's normal heart. It is a strange heartbeat, and one that is not supposed to exist as she has taken Caius's venom into her veins. It would have destroyed her organs and froze her outer skin, redesigning what was plain into something of a drop-dead-gorgeous kind of beauty that is useful for luring preys.

"What a strange little thing you are, my pet," Caius whispers to himself, his cold digits trailing up her arm, admiring the strange temperature and skin texture.

Caius had never met someone who transforms in such a way as she did. Intrigued, he touches her cheeks softly; afraid that he'd inflict damage on her if he put too much pressure in his touch. The softness of a human's skin still remains, albeit a little harder. He compares the softness of a human's skin to the likes of tofu, so fragile and smashes easily with just one push. Hers – however – felt a little bit more like ice water. It won't break if it is touched with a tad bit more pressure, but will crack and smash if too much pressure is applied. Strange, yet it was a fascinating thing to behold.

And her scent? Caius takes a deep whiff of her scent and instantly, his mouth watered at the sheer delicacy of her unique scent. It smelled like lilies, and yet at the same time it smelled a tad bit like peaches. He finally settles with lily, as that particular scent dominates the part with the peaches scent. He did not expect that lilies would smell so invitingly mouthwatering. It isn't something edible, and yet it draws him from wherever he stood and the next thing he knew, he had moved from his study to the bedroom, wanting to be all the more closer to the source of that lovely scent.

She invokes strange feelings inside of him the moment he first found her on that window looking at him with curious, admirable eyes. He never had that feeling when he first met his wife, and yet this strange creature had him practically flew into a fit when her impossibly mouthwatering scent disturbed him in a meeting with Aro. He had to get out and find this source, possibly kill her and satisfy his desire to drink the blood of the owner of the scent. But when he finally sets his eyes on her, it spellbinds him to where he stood and all thoughts of killing her disappears with the wind. To conclude that it was love at first sight would be a little unbelievable. But what could possibly suit what he had felt the first time he sets his bloody red sight on her then?

Caius closes his eyes, willing himself to not think about what it was any more. For now, his poker face would have to return, and so does his usual cranky, prone-to-flying-into-a-fit temper must return. He is a King, and the same goes with his temper.

He sensed her heart beat changes rhythm. Without thinking, Caius reaches for her hand and squeezed it gently, guiding her back to the real world, helping her wake up from her deep slumber and apparent endless dream.

"Wake up," he whispers to her softly in a tone he never thought he could manage, not after hundreds and thousands of years of becoming one of the cruelest vampire in the world. "You will come back to me. I won't hurt you, my little pet. Wake up."

The moment he squeezes her hand, she squeezes his hand back suddenly, signaling to him that she is finally awake.

_Lara's POV_

I dreamt that I've dreamt.

He looked familiar in a way. His white blonde hair made him look paler than the rest of the others. Like his kind, he is astoundingly beautiful, more so when I kept staring at him. Entranced, I walked to him and finally reach the throne.

It was dark. I could barely see anything farther than the stretch of my hand. By sheer instinct and one palm constantly placed on the wall, I ran as hard as I could into the darkness that blinds me. My instincts lead my mind and heart, and fear pushes me forward to run even while my lungs burned for more oxygen and my aching thigh and legs screaming for me to take a rest. I leaped over the ancient, almost beyond invaluable porcelain statue like a gazelle. This new found adrenaline an alien to me, and yet, I embraced it wholly, because it is the only thing I know that could somehow save me now.

Beads of sweat and fear dripped down from my brow as I ran from him. There is just one chasing me-just one. I know I can outrun him. I know I can save myself. I know I can avoid dying. I know I can spare myself the fate of becoming like the others; a mere bag of blood in their monstrous eyes. They couldn't even run; they're so damn fast! Bodies littered the ground faster than I can gather my nerves.

But then I saw him.

He is obviously a vampire; his bright red eyes and pale translucent complexion akin to onion skin – a trait shared by all of his bloodsucking brothers and subjects. All I know is that there was a Marcus, an Aro and a Caius, the only three that sat on the throne. He's the only one unmoving from his seat whilst his brothers satisfy their monstrous thirst with all the other tourists.

If I could just get out there, just a little more time…

_Wake up… _a phantom voice calls at the back of my mind. It sounded so musical and beautiful that I couldn't help but to think that this is probably a dream.

"Is this a dream?" I asked, feeling my voice shuddering in the cold and fear.

_You will come back to me… _the phantom voice said again; his voice rang in the hallway, surrounding me in warmth I've never felt before.

The moment I turned my gaze away from his in search for an exit – a way out of this hell hole – I felt a firm grip around my arm, pulling me back from whatever hope I have left to leave this hell. I snapped my head around and saw that the snow-haired vampire – Caius is his name – had his cold fingers curled around my upper arm in a possessive way. Snarling in victory with eyes as red as blood and teeth as sharp as knives; he caught me.

He growled inhumanly and lunged for my neck, while I pushed him off me with my hands. His face is the image of someone surprised, as if no one had manages to push him off anybody. Pumped with new found adrenaline, I didn't know that I had pushed him far enough to give a few moments to gather my wits together and – just as I was going to run – something happened.

The vampire I had pushed away harshly is crushed under a huge statue that had toppled over his body. He gave a deep loud howl and the sound reverberates around the lone corridor.

_I won't hurt you… _the phantom voice said again,

His howl of distress sounded so heartbrokenly sorrowful, and I couldn't resist my sense of sympathy for someone in anguish. For that reason alone, I turned around.

For that one moment of hesitation, the vampire leaped onto me and latched its razor sharp teeth on my neck, sucking my life blood deeply.

That time, I wanted the horrifying end; because I didn't know that there was a beautiful start.

_Wake up,_ the phantom voice calls again, and this time, I felt my dreams dissipate around me in wisps of black tendrils of smoke and fire. My dreams dissolves around me and disappears slowly back into the ground where I now stood unharmed, reaching towards a hand holding out towards me in the dark. Fearless, I reaches for that pale hand sticking out of nowhere from the dark and grasp it in mine, feeling the cold hand gripping mine in a strange, yet gently reassuring way.

That is when I woke up in my new life with a start.

A slight squeeze in my hand causes me to look down to where my hand is, and found that the snow-haired vampire who had changed me is sitting down by the side of the bed, looking at me with an unfathomable expression on his perfect, beautiful face. It looks to me as if he is relieved that I am…awake?

"Welcome back," he said in his oh-so-musical voice. His entire being radiated with some kind of warmth that seems to draw me in, and I slowly sat myself up from the bed.

Normal POV

"What do you mean?" Lara asks Caius in a confused tone, her hand reaching for her head to brush her hair off her face.

It was then she started to notice the strange things that had changed when she is asleep. Her hair has darkened to a degree that it no longer looked brown, but almost a deep brown-black. It was also far longer than she remembered, and looks so much more luxurious than before, as if she has just came out from a day at the saloon pampering her hair with moisturizing treatments. Touching a lock of her hair, she also noted that the texture is softer. Confusion spreads onto her expression as she contemplated the other changes that are made to her body.

Sitting up straight, she notices that her hair seems to pool around her, having grown long enough to reach her hip. Her skin had turned another shade of pale, and is much colder and harder to the touch compared to a normal human's skin. Her hand reaches for her neck – which, as far back as she could remember before she passes out – has been bitten by the very same snow-haired vampire.

But when she touches her neck, the skin surrounding that area is smooth to the touch, as if she has not sustained any wound before.

"Am I dreaming?" Lara whispers softly, afraid of knowing the truth of her life and death. She couldn't feel herself as a living human anymore, but at the same time, the surge of power that gradually builds inside of her from the moment she awakens to this brand new world where everything is more detailed than anything she has ever seen before is mystifyingly pleasant. The light buzz of energy inside of her sends every cell inside of her tissues alive and humming, ready for her to put them to good use.

"No, my dear," Caius said, looking at Lara with mesmerized eyes. His consciousness reminds him that in all his thousands of years of life as a vampire, he has never laid an eye on such a beautiful creature before, however surprised he is over the color of her eyes and her obvious human traits instead of a vampire. "You are now here with me with your new life, and you are mine."

"I'm…yours?" Lara said confusedly, her brows furrowed while she stares at Caius, her eyes begging for more answers than just a sentence of vague explanations. "How am I yours? What's with me and my new life? What have you done to me?"

"I've bitten you and transformed you into a vampire, my sweet," Caius said in a tone so soft he did not realizes it himself. "I made you, and so I became the one closest to you in this coven by this bond that binds us together."

He did not want to frighten his little beauty away. He wanted them to have a fresh new start that started out good instead of bad. He wanted to build a good impression on her, that he is a man who has somehow spared her life for no apparent reason and gave her a new life just so that she could stay with him by his side, possibly forever. He wanted her to be with him, and he would never admit to anyone in the world that he needs her by his side.

Her gaze lingers around his face, searching for more answer and at the same time, admires his beauty. Truly, the man is flawlessly beautiful. No man could be this beautiful unless he's something supernatural, and now that he admits he has transformed her into a vampire, that would mean he is one as well.

Suddenly, Lara is seized with a sudden desire to run. Her mind tells her to run – to try out her new body – and to feel the wind against her skin. Her body is eager to fly and explore the limits her body could withstand. Looking up into his eyes, Lara asks her maker, "I-"

"You wanted to run?" Caius asks gently in a soft voice, his hand slowly reaches towards her face so as to not frighten her away. But she did not fall back even with his hand stroking her face. She did not even cringe. Sighing internally to himself, Caius thought to himself that this is a good start.

"There's this strange feeling inside of me…" Lara started, not sure whether to continue telling him of the feelings she had felt that told her to run and fly. But Caius gently reassures her in ways that surprises even him.

He doesn't even remember that he is capable of such feats towards a human in almost 3 millennia of his life.

"Don't worry," Caius said to her, caressing her small cheeks in his cold palm, to which he react with pleasure when Lara seems to sigh and leans further into his palm. "Don't fear as well. Your body is merely telling you what you could do with it now that you're no longer a human. I will show you the way, but do not disobey me. That will be the only thing I ask from you…"

"Okay…" Lara said softly, her eyes almost closing to the lulling soft movement of Caius caressing her face. She remembers that when he fed on her while she is still human; his touches were good despite it being icy cold. Now that she – from what he had said – is a vampire, his touches no longer felt icy cold, but strangely cool and warm at the same time. It is a pleasant feeling, one that she doesn't want to part with for a good amount of time, as if his hand belonged where it was. Sighing in disappointment when his hand fell from her cheek, Lara followed the vampire down to a dark hallway and out into the setting sunlight.

"Its sunset," Caius said to her, watching her every movement and reaction towards the light. He noted that her skin does not glitter as much as his does. It merely… glows… seemingly surrounding her with a glowing beautiful opaque-kind of glow, making her look rather ethereal. "You've been asleep for 7 days, which is abnormal…"

"Abnormal?" Lara repeated in a questioning tone, eyes closed to enjoy the feel of the setting sun's heat on her face. "What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you more when we get back here," Caius said to her. "For now, let's see how you run."

Nevertheless, Lara didn't need to be told twice. The moment he lets her go, Lara leans forward and speeds off to God-Knows-Where with the vampire following her closely from behind.

Somehow, she knew she couldn't run as fast as him vampires, but the feel of the wind on her new found speed feels so wonderful. It made her body lighter than it already was and she feels as if she could fly if she wanted to – if she ever wishes to. Laughing happily, Lara runs faster, delighted with her abilities as a vampire.

Caius observes his new little pet closely and finding nothing to insult or sneer at. Truly, she is just perfect for him. There is a possibility that this is the person that he has been waiting involuntarily all his life. He has been keeping himself alive for three thousand years just so that he could live to see the day when she would come to this world. As the cruelest vampire, he wanted to find something negative about her, but as the one who waits patiently for her arrival for thousands of years, he wanted to cherish her and appreciate her every being, even down to her negative aspects.

But for now, she remains perfect in his eyes. So perfect that he felt it is fortunate she appears to have the same, strange feelings that stops him from killing her.

Arriving at an unexpected clearing of meadow, Lara did a cartwheel and drops down to the ground with a wide smile on her face. She rolls around and takes in a deep breath, loving the new scent she picks up from the grass and the nature surrounding her, taking in all it has to offer her with her now heightened eyesight and sense of smell as a vampire. Caius arrives no mere seconds later, walking slowly towards Lara, who rolls on the dirty grassy ground as if it was the finest quality of velvet bedspread.

"Get up from the ground," Caius said, slightly sneering at her rolling on the ground without a care in the world, giggling in a silly way without reason. "It's filthy."

"But it's lovely in a way," Lara said happily, her eyes closed and enjoying the extra sense she has in the wonderful smell of crushed grass underneath her body. "I've never smelt something so lovely before, as if I'm one with nature… Do you feel like this too, Caius?" Lara's words trailed off when she didn't even know the vampire's name.

Caius blinked in surprise. _She knew my name? _

"You can still remember my name then, I see," Caius said, quickly recollecting back his thoughts and composure, not letting an ounce of his emotions come pouring out for longer than a few seconds. "Not many could remember after such a long slumber and from such a short introductory period…"

"There is nothing not worth remembering about you, Caius," Lara said without thinking, her mind and body now elsewhere with the nature while she lets her mouth run without realizing that she has been spilling her inner secrets to the very man who had attracted her at first place. "I will remember every single thing about you, even if others deem that it is not worth remembering…"

While Lara enjoys the nature's gradually cooling temperature due to the setting of the sun, she felt a strange feeling of being watched directed at her. Opening her eyes, she notices that Caius is the one who had been doing the watching. His eyes did not stray from hers even when she had found out he is doing some serious starring and instead, he continues to watch her intently with a strange unfathomable expression on his face.

"What is it?" Lara asks softly, not wanting to startle the beautiful man in front of her. He looked so peaceful with his strange unfathomable expression staring at her, and she had a strange inkling that this man might have not had such peacefulness for a long, long time since God knows when.

When he remains silent, she prodded her question further. "Did I say something without realizing it, Caius?"

From where he sat – which is a short distance away from her – he could observe all he wants about her. Instead of bright red eyes like that of a newborn vampire, she has large dark green eyes as a substitute, which is flecked with speckle of gold and silver amidst the diamond-shaped hazel flanks that shaped her irises. Her rosy skin seemed to sparkle beneath the weak lights from the setting sun, but it doesn't sparkle as much as his skin does. He also notices that she continues to breathe like a normal human, and her heartbeat had changed into a strange, fluttering beat that is different from a human's heart.

For a moment, he thought that she looks absolutely and breathlessly beautiful. She made his heart swell in pride when she mentions that she remembers everything there is to remember about him.

Used to reaching out and touching him without him reacting, Lara reaches her hand forward daringly and touches his cheek, admiring the beautiful prisms of lights that serve as his skin. It was akin to watching a diamond being put underneath sunlight, which it will then send beautiful prisms of colorful light all over the place.

"You're so beautiful without making an effort to…" Lara whispers absentmindedly, her finger trailing up and down his face in awe. "Why aren't I the same like you, Caius? Why am I still warm and breathing when you don't need to do so…?"

"That is the question best leave for Aro to answer…" Caius answers her, his hand reaching up to give her hand a light squeeze. Lara smiles in response and laughs happily.

Standing up, Lara laughs happily and begun dancing around with a song she hums happily, her now elongated locks of hair – darkened with the power of his vampire venom – flowed around her in a beautiful rhythm, following the movements of her body perfectly, swaying in time with her dance patterns.

Waving her arms around in the air, Lara jumped and danced and waltzed around the empty meadow with only Caius as her lone audience. Constantly, she looked up at the sky and into the forest. For the first time in her life, she is able to see perfectly through everything nature has to offer her. They were so beautiful, and she couldn't satisfy her newfound powers and freedom anymore than she could right now with her dances of liberty.

"Come," Caius said out of the blue, just when she finishes a perfect pirouette in the air. Her smile froze in her face when Caius angled his head towards the way back to Volterra.

"You mean, going back!?" Lara exclaimed in surprise. When Caius gave her a look – she understood it as his way of saying 'of course' – she lets out a moan of protest and ran towards him.

Grabbing his arms, Lara shakes him desperately. Apparently, she doesn't know that Caius is a dangerously temper-tantrum prone vampire. "Caius? Sire? Caius, please! Just let me have a go here for a while! Please!? Just for a while more, just for a moment more! Please!"

Eyes locked on the pair of pale hands gripping his arms, Caius lifts his gaze and said a firm, "No," to Lara.

Disappointed, Lara knitted her brows together in sadness, her eyes appears to shimmer with unshed tears, "B-but I-"

Not wanting to see what would happen to her if he ever allows her to wallow in disappointment, Caius gently places his hand over hers, where it had a vice grip on his arm. She loosens her hold on him, only to have him giving her hand a slight squeeze.

"You'll get to 'have a go at it' if you behave yourself," Caius replied her, turning around and walking back towards Volterra.

Bounding up to him, Lara skipped and hopped around him happily and said, "And when is that?"

"Don't question me," Caius snapped angrily, not liking the fact that their conversation is steering out of his control when she continues to plead at him without an ounce of fear. He is a King, and he thinks that she has been shown mercy far longer than is necessary already.

"Caius, please…" she continues to plead sadly, her eyes staring at him sadly.

If it was anyone else, he would have said no. However, when she pleaded at him with her heart and soul just so that she could stay out a little longer, his stone cold heart seemed to reach out to her and melted his resolve to bring her back. It was a strange notion, but he couldn't seem to be able to say no to her. He blamed it on the reason that he is her maker.

"You seemed to love dancing," Caius inquired her, his blood-red eyes never leaving hers while his head cocked to the side. To his uttermost surprise, she smiles at him graciously and bounded towards him happily.

Grabbing his arms, Lara leans as close to his face as she could with her height without tiptoeing on her toes and whispered in a low tone, as if she is relating a huge secret to Caius, "Not as much as I love skating on ice though." She laughed and ran backward towards the meadow, her hair flowing close to her body. "Skating makes me feels so much like I'm flying. It's the one experience I won't give up no matter what the reason is."

"You're high," Caius stated monotonously, watching her intently. "You're a newborn vampire, pumped full with your human blood. It made you feel basically invincible."

"I feel like flying," Lara said happily, throwing her arms into the air as she skipped on the meadow.

"And that," Caius added monotonously.

"Sire?" Lara asked innocently, her gaze still fixated around the nature surrounding the both of them. "When can I come out here again? I love it here enormously. It's so _beautiful_! Do the other vampires come here too?"

Caius made a face at her comment. "The other vampires know that this is my place. They stay out of this place, including the other two Kings. This is my place, and it will remain so forever."

Lara stares at Caius for a while. The Vampire King chooses to ignore her staring and instead opted to admire the scene in front of him. It has been a while since he had come to this place. It was his only solace from the other kings and Athenodora. Wife in body and soul, all she has done for these past centuries with Caius is disobey him and humiliate him in front of others. Thank goodness, at least she had the least bit decency to leave his solace to remain the only place she has never stepped into before.

Hopping towards him, Lara came to sit down in front of him and blocked him of his view. Frowning, Caius snapped, "What do you want?"

Slowly, Lara moved her hand and reaches towards Caius's face. It was so slow that all the trees and grass have grown another inch while her hand slowly moves towards his face. When she sees no response, she continues and touches his forehead softly, like a curious kitty touching the water's surface and watches the ripples of the water it had made quietly.

"Has anyone ever told you before just how beautiful you are, Caius?" Lara said ever so innocently in her pure, musical voice. Caius lets her question hung in the air for a few second while he tries his might to compare her new voice to anything beautiful. It leaves a tingle down the back of his spine when she spoke to her in that slow, quiet and questioning tone. Not bell-like, and yet it sounded beautifully musical, almost like the sound of water droplet dripping from the caverns of a quiet, large dark cave.

"We are predators that are designed to lure in our prey with our beauty-" Caius started slowly. A finger came from Lara and pressed it softly against his lips, silencing her with her finger and her admiring smile.

Caius is so surprised that he couldn't manage to say a thing. No one had dared to touch him this far, much less than silence him in mid sentence.

"No, Caius..." Lara started softly in a low, quiet tone. "You are beautiful. Your skin may look flaky and pale and powdery like it is going to crumble anytime soon if I so much as graze your skin with my fingertips, but in fact it's smoother than porcelain and softer than a feather's touch-" Lara's fingers demonstrated the softness of his skin by touching his cheeks with the tips of her fingers, tracing up and down his face and goes up to his eye area. "Your eyes may look red and terrifying, but they seem to hold so many stories within them that it is far more than enough to just watch your eyes for hours, letting the stories within them unfold themselves. Your hair looks so hard and stiff, but they're so smooth and silky that you won't want to stop touching them…"

Lara sighs in admiration at the man lying down so casually in front of her. "You're so perfect, Sire…"

Caius felt a smile started to crawl up his face. Deciding that playtime is over, Caius sat up and leans in to Lara's retreating face. "I've been told more," he whispers seductively to her in his lowest tune of voice, hearing her strange heartbeat pound all the more louder and faster. It was music to his ears, and he smirked all the more wider when he notices her blushing red and hard right in front of his very eyes.

"I-I'm sure you do…" Lara stuttered shyly, looking down at the grassy grounds underneath her knees and up towards Caius's red glowing eyes. Feeling the stare he gave her is too much for her to handle, Lara looked back down to the grassy grounds, cursing her blushing self when she felt heat blooming across her cheeks.

Suddenly, Caius grabbed hold of her face and forces her to look into his eyes. "Time to go back," he said solemnly, all traces of smirks gone from his face and are replaced with his usual poker face.

Lara blinked in confusion. "What?"

In a swift movement, Caius had Lara thrown over his shoulders and strode like a soldier back to the Underground Palace. Surprised, Lara stammered out random replies while hitting his back, "What- Hey! Caius! How dare you-"

"I am a King," Caius insisted in what he knew to be a 'Kingly' tone. Scowling, Caius muttered in a low tone, "How dare I…"

"Put me down this instant!" Lara called out loudly, kicking up a fuss over his shoulders. "Sire!"

"I will not, and my name – Caius – would be enough. It is not a wonderful thing to hear you calling me Sire. It will give me less reason to stay out here longer than it was already. You are a new vampire, and as such, it is dangerous for you to stay out of her longer than necessary, lest you give me trouble and make a mess of yourself."

"No! I will not tolerate this-"

"-I am your King, and you will do as you are told-"

"This is embarrassing! Put me down!"

Without another word, Caius ran back home with Lara on tow on his shoulder and strode into the grand hall of the Volturi's Underground Palace, pulling back his usual scowl up to his face before passing by the guards, who daren't give him another glance for fear of being executed.

"Aro, Marcus," not stopping his speed, Caius gave them each a nod and strode towards another door, opening the heavy doors with one bare hand and continues to strode down the hall.

"What on earth is Caius doing, Marcus?" Aro asked, watching in amazement as Caius strode down to his side of the wing of the underground palace with Lara thrown over his back like a sack of potatoes, appearing uncaring as she hits his back and demanded to be let down from his shoulder.

Marcus smiles to himself. "The bond is made, Aro. It is unbreakable now."


	4. I Got The Power

**4****th**** Night:**

**I Got The Power**

While she sleeps on during her transformations, Caius has given explicit orders for Alec and Demetri to prepare her room in his side of the wing palace. While she slumbers on to her transformation, somehow, Caius had imagined the colors that would suit her so well it would shame the colors itself. And so, that is how the concept of her room is borne.

An emerald shade of green and metallic baby blue is chosen as the color of most of her furniture. Her bedpost is made from a dark brown high quality wood with carvings of floral patterns. The loveseat at the end of the bedpost is laden with soft silk cushions the color of metallic baby blue. A mini library with a small flight of stairs is set up on the other side of the room, with heavy silver curtains serving as doors and luxuriously comfortable sofa and small table set within the library. A little study table made of mahogany wood is set up in the corner of the room, just beside the mini library's small flight of stairs.

A walk in closet and an ancient vanity mirror is also set aside somewhere in the room for her to use, and he had taken the liberty to fill the closet with clothes and shoes of her sizes with the help of catalogues from branded shops. He couldn't wait to see what she would look like when she wears the dresses and clothes he had picked out for her.

But for now, all those would have to wait as he prepares to instill some amount of respect for the elders and senior vampires in her.

The moment he swung the door to her chamber open, he threw her down as gently as he could on her bed and strode out of the room before she have time to roll back and get up from the bed. When she seems to move faster than what he had anticipated of her, he ran – yes, Caius ran – and closed the door right in her face, with her screaming his name in frustration. The thrill of her almost caught up to him closing the door had a strange surge of nonexistent adrenaline running in him, making him feel unexpectedly young and he chuckles freely at her frustration when she bangs the door closed behind him. The only regret is that he did not have the chance to see her getting angry. For sure, it would be a sight to behold.

"Caius!" Lara calls out, banging on the doors with her small hands, which Caius takes note of as well. It would seem that she does not possess the full abilities of a vampire due to unknown reasons. He would have to discuss this with his brothers. "Caius! Open the door! Caius!"

Taking a deep breath, Caius made certain that his voice contains no traces of laughter and said to her across the door, "This will be your room from now on. I will be attending a meeting with my brothers. You are to stay here until I come back for you, am I to be understood, little pet?"

"As far as I know," Lara said in a dangerously low tone. "I can understand English perfectly well, and I'm not your pet! Now open this door and let me out!"

"If you were any other person I would have snapped your neck without a second thought for being so discourteous when talking to me," Caius mumbles, hearing her screaming his name in frustration. It'll do her some good to be locked inside a room. Finally, he could lock something without them crashing his doors with inhuman strength.

There was silence almost immediately after his mumbles. He couldn't imagine himself mumbles, but in such a short while after she awakens she had manages to make him do many things that he personally believes he is not capable of. Feeling concern for the sudden silence, Caius leans into the door and tries to eavesdrop to anything he might hear from the room.

"Did I make you mad, Caius?" Lara said quietly, her hand placed on the door handles of the chamber softly; sadness came crawling into her being without her realizing it. Somehow, in a way or two, she feels guilty for making Caius do things that he's not willing to. It was strange to feel things for him, seeing as he had literally killed her and robbed her off her blood and life as a normal human. Still unsure of what to be done of her strange feelings towards the snow-haired vampire, Lara assumes that it was merely the fact that Caius is her maker, and that would naturally make both of them bonds more easily around each other. Biting her lips, Lara places her palm on the door and whispers, "I'm sorry, Caius…"

It was then guilt welled up within Caius. He had never felt that foreign feeling before within his being, and he didn't like it one bit.

"I was just teasing you," Caius blurted out without thinking, and when he heard a small gasp of surprise from Lara, he quickly clears his throat and said, "Just so you know…"

And with that, he was gone from the door. He'll be damned further if he were to stay there for long. And for the record, it was just outside the door. He'll only fare out worse if he were to stay in the chamber for longer than a minute.

When Caius came back to the throne room, he notices the other Kings gave him a cautious look, with a hint of smile on their lips.

"What is it?" Caius said almost snappily, being on edge immediately with the looks his brothers gave him.

Aro smirked wider, amusement twinkles merrily in his eyes. "There's something about you that is just so different today, brother dear. Mind telling me what is it? I would love to know…"

Caius's nostril flared and his lips tightened. "You have stayed away from involving yourself in my affairs during my past time; do not tell me you have changed your mind regarding that fact. I would not be pleased by it."

"How is your little pet then, brother?" Aro asks smoothly, sitting on the throne with his body turned towards Caius's direction. "I want to know every single detail, and nothing left out."

"Yes, brother," Marcus said suddenly out of the blue, with the other two Kings left staring openly at him. Marcus is always the quiet one after Didyme's untimely death, leaving a cold empty shell of his former glory moping around the Grand Hall Chamber like a lost wraith. "Do tell. She is the most interesting little flower after Didyme."

"She is mine!" Caius hissed acidly, not liking the feeling of having another male vampire harboring an interest over Lara.

"Rest assured, brother dear," Marcus said in his usual drawling tone. "When I said interesting, love interest would only involve my dear Didyme, while for that little flower of yours, it would only mean that she has gained herself a self-named brother – so to speak."

"Now, now, brothers," Aro piped in, impatiently trying to subside their little argument. "As much as I am eager to assume that role as well, Marcus, I would like to hear what Caius has to say over his interesting little flower. I must ask, Caius – correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought I heard the strangest little heartbeat flew past me after you came back with your newly transformed pet…"

Caius sneered at his brothers. He didn't like the way the conversation steers, but he had no choice. "You heard nothing wrong, brother. She – _my _little pet – does indeed preserve her heartbeat after the transformation."

Seeing as they are brothers and Kings of the Volturi together, Aro had sworn to never use his gift on either of them. Should he have needs regarding certain information, he would have to ask for it and not touch-and-gain them through his wonderfully invasive gift.

"How very extraordinary," Aro breathed, amazed with the revelation. "What is she, brother?"

"I don't know where she stood as well, brother," Caius said, almost sighing in defeat at trying to figure out her species. "She seems to stand in between being a human and a vampire at the same time."

"Is she…" Aro started carefully, not wanting to drive Caius into another temper tantrum.

"A threat?" Caius said, chuckling at some of his earliest memories regarding Lara when she first woke up in her new life. He ran a hand through his snow-blonde hair. "She couldn't even run faster than me in full speed. I've tested her. Her skin is harder than a human, but not more than that. She did, however, retain her eye color. More beautiful – perhaps – longer and darker hair, paler skin complexion. Nothing more than that."

"Any gifts?" Aro said excitedly, his bright red, slightly opaque eyes glittering with excitement. "Or you haven't found them out yet?"

Caius gave a look to the other two vampires. "This will be the reason why your gift of infiltration into the deepest corner of the mind of someone is so useful at this moment, brother."

It was after Caius have left the corridor did Lara started to explore her new room. Without a doubt, it is one hell of a beautiful room, and the fact that there is a mini library in her bedroom only made her smile wider all the more.

There was a sharp rap on her door that invades her little thoughts about her little library. There was a scent of sunflower – sweet and smooth – and it gave her a thought that the door rapper is a girl.

"Lara Elfreya?" a feminine child-like voice calls out to her. Flashing towards the door with her newfound vampire speed, Lara opens the door and is greeted by a pale, blond haired young girl, complete with her hair tied behind the back of her head in a ballerina style and flats with high stockings. There is another boy standing beside her, this one much older and looked beautiful like the girl. Both of them looked very much like angels when they're standing together.

"Hello," Lara held out her hand to the girl with a wide smile. "I'm Lara."

"I'm Jane," the girl replied with a reluctant smile on her lips and an awkward handshake ensures after that, as if she is unsure if what she did is the right one. "I'm one of the King's head bodyguards. This is my brother, Alec-" Alec held out his hand automatically for Lara to shake, and she responded to his greetings with a smile as well. "Aro sends for you. He requests for your presence in the Grand Hall Chamber."

Lara sums up to herself that perhaps this girl has been left out of socializing in the proper social norms. Not that they needed them when they're all powerful and beautiful. People would literally _die _just so that they could get closer to them.

"Alright, Jane. I must say, you are so beautiful…" Lara said to her and Alec chuckles. Jane gave him a small hit on the thigh, and he silences up. If Jane could blush, she would have does so.

"Thanks for the compliment," Jane said reluctantly, not used to attentions like this before. True, Jane is beautiful, but she did not expect someone like her would freely give her compliments. She is the King, Caius's personal pet. And Jane is just the head bodyguard. Their status varies different in so many stages. Surely, she knew about it?

"And you smell absolutely wonderful… did you put on sunflower perfumes, Jane?" Lara asks innocently, taking in a deep whiff of Jane's perfume in the air. Jane looks confused, and she held up her hand to smell her own self.

"I don't think so… we vampires don't have to use perfumes to make our self smells… inviting…" Jane said, choosing her words carefully. Lara smiles brightly up at her and hooked her hand on Jane's arms.

"Then come! Lead me to this Aro… it's been a while since I've been here…" Lara said to her, and smiles further at Jane's shocked expression. How dare she touch her!?

Jane unexpectedly lets out a little of her power on her and expects her to curl up in pain. But she did not. She continues to laugh and smile at her expression and pulls her to the front direction. Surprised, Jane kept quiet about it. She thinks about to report to the High Kings herself of this abnormalities.

When Lara arrives, Aro quickly stood up from his chair and extended his hand for her.

"Lara, dear, isn't it?" Aro started, giving her a slight bow. Lara gave him a curtsey out of respect and his obviously old age.

"Hello, Aro," Lara said, smiling at the older vampire. "I heard about you from Caius and Jane. Jane told me you wanted to see me…?" Lara asks, admiring the older vampire's complexion.

Truly, Aro is another beautiful being, but with Caius there staring at her like there is no tomorrow, she couldn't help but to blush…

"Oh my," Aro said to himself, one hand covering his mouth in surprise, as if not wanting to spill secrets out accidentally. "She blushes… the young girl blush… and what is this I smell…" Aro took a deep whiff of her scent, and smiles to himself, salivating in his mouth. "She is a virgin!"

"Aro!" Caius hissed in anger. "Cease this useless talk immediately!"

"Alright, Caius. Whatever you say. I must say something, my brother. Are you jealous that everyone here knows that she is a virgin?" Aro said, and Lara blushes further.

Angrily, Caius flitted to her and lifted her up and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She almost fell to the floor from Caius's sudden appearance, and her head is staring at the floor and the back of his long cloak.

"Caius!" Lara screamed. "Not again! Put me down this instance!"

Caius stood there, watching the other Kings with a bored expression. He lets her dangle on his shoulder for a few minutes, delighting in watching her kicking up a fuss.

"She is half human, half vampire," Caius said to the other Kings, and they are surprised with the revelation. "She has blood in her body, and her heart beats. Listen…"

And so they listen. Admits her screaming's, they heard her heartbeat beats silently and slowly, below the rate of a normal human being.

"It is amazing…" Aro said, surprised and appears absolutely in awe with her. "She is amazing, my brother…"

Caius threw her up into the air and hears her scream in fright. He caught her in his arms and she looks up at him with fear in her eyes.

"I'm so scared… don't ever do that again!" Lara said to Caius, as if chiding him for his doings and hits his chest several times. He merely chuckles, surprising the other Kings all the more.

"What powers does she have in making the cold ice king Caius submits to her will…?" Marcus asks, surprised with her powers to make Caius laugh and smile in such a short while. True, she is afraid whenever Caius manhandles her a little, but she smiles back up soon enough when Caius smiles at her.

Like a lover.

"Like a lover," Aro said to Marcus. "Marcus, my brother, are they lovers?"

Marcus was silently watching them interact. Lara hits Caius's shoulders, and all he does is chuckle in delight at her small strength. Truly, it is magical.

"They will be soon enough, once Caius marks her as his… she is only half his right now…" Marcus said to him, and they watch them interact further.

Suddenly, Lara watches the King.

"So," Lara said nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders as if she didn't care for the outcome of Aro's findings. "What powers do I have then? I do hope it's not something embarrassing…"

Aro cocked his head to the side at her question with an intriguing expression on his pale face. "What, may I ask, would be something so embarrassing that you wouldn't want to find out then, my dear?"

Lara blinked. She gave it a thought, and then looked at Aro. "I hope I won't have mind reading abilities. It would be such an invasive power, wouldn't it Aro?"

"But you would be able to see and know everything in that person's mind; from past to present, and dig up everything you want to know about that person…" Aro said, trying slightly to defend his own gift of Psychometry.

"But then I wouldn't be able to control the things that I do _not _wish to see in that unfortunate person's mind now, wouldn't I? Privacy would be for naught…"

The room fell silent as they contemplated Lara's answers. Marcus and Caius gave a look at Aro, who understood them immediately and nodded his head almost embarrassingly. Clearly, Aro had seen almost everything in the other King's minds when he sometimes touches them accidentally.

"Fair point," Marcus drawled lazily, his eyes still plastered on Aro.

Clearing his throat in order to push all the embarrassment away, Aro said with his eyes darting everywhere. "Point taken… Now, shall we start then?"

Aro held out his hands, and Lara automatically took his hand in hers. Aro wrapped her hand in his, and he closes his eyes, feeling all the memories flitting through his mind. All are her memories, and he enjoys looking at them. He felt the sun hits his face when he watches her memories, and he felt the heat, the joy, all the happiness. Hell, he felt happy being able to see her memories…

"From what I've seen in your memories," Aro started, "You're not easily fooled."

"I'm… not," Lara said in a monotone voice, not sure what to reply him.

"You could easily see through a lie… through illusions, and see directly at the truth without any barriers blocking your way. You're not easily deceived as well…"

Lara smiles up at him. "Because I'm perceptive and logical, that's why."

"Not only that I'm afraid," Aro said, smiling at her and releasing her hand.

"You're afraid?" Lara started, surprise with the King's unusual language. She enjoys talking to them, and talking to them feels as if she is going back to the old time.

"In a manner of speaking, you have the power to unmask a lie or any other deceiving acts of a person. This gift would come to be useful at determining whether someone is telling the truth or not…"

"You've seen everything then, I presume…" Lara said to Aro, noting Aro's small smile.

"Yes-" Aro said, and before he could say anything further, Lara beats him to it bravely.

"And does that include you seeing me while I'm taking my shower?"

Suddenly, the air is tensed. Caius's anger suddenly flares up, and Aro coughs in return for her answer. If the King could blush, he would have by now…

"What?" Caius angrily exclaims. "What did you see, Aro!?"

"Well… of course I would have seen it… It's in her mind, for God's sake!" Aro said, defending himself against the anger prone vampire, Caius. Truly, Caius is seething in anger, and if could, his hair would have bristled as well like a lion in anger.

Lara, upon seeing this, bravely went up to Caius and touches him on his arm softly. "Caius," Lara calls, and she sees him changes his expression to that of a soft hearted man. "Please…"

Caius held her hand, and pulls her down to sit on his lap with him. He took in her scent. It was a lovely one. Lily mixed with something that only she has it. He had never smelled something so inviting before, and he loves it all the more when he continues to breathe into her. So, a virgin, Caius thought to himself. He likes what he smells, and he likes the fact that she is a virgin. So when he finally makes love to her and consummate their bond then she would be all the more his in body and in soul.

"Would you care to explain what and who exactly you are before when you were human?" Aro ask, breaking the silence. Lara tries to stand up, but Caius held a vice grip on her waist and kept her on his lap.

It was then when Lara saw the Ipad that Alec held on his hands. It features a girl singing in Youtube, and it was posted with billions of people watching the video.

When Lara saw the video on the net featuring of her singing a sweet, sad song as a pianist plays on a grand white piano, she smiles, remembering the time when the song is made.

"I was approached by someone in my school. They wanted me to appear in their video and sing a song they have made. I agreed, seeing as I had nothing better to do at that moment. I didn't know they posted it on the net…In fact, I've never seen the video anyway… It turns out to be better than what we had done on first filming scene."

"We must eradicate this thing immediately," Aro said to her, and orders Alec to do whatever it is to eradicate Lara's existence. "You are dead now, and you are with us. You must not exist in the outside world. Your id, your friends, everything, they would be cleaned off your memories and their minds would be washed. You must not tell another soul that you are still alive…"

"It's alright…" Lara said sadly. "My last living relative has died out… I'm alone here in the world…"

Everyone went silent. Lara lowered her head and stares at the ground. It was a sad thing for her to be reminded that she is alone in the world. Not to mention being in such a strange place with this strange man that is both wonderful and scary at the same time. Suddenly he could be angry, and the next moment he would throw you into the air without a care in the world, laughing and smiling up at her. Is this the life she chooses? No. But she would try to settle down…

Caius touches her face softly. He does not want to startle her. He pulls her face to face him and leans in, kissing her forehead.

"You have us now, little star," Caius said. For once, he is inwardly surprised with the use of that little pet name he have for her. He had wanted to call her that for a while now. "I am your closest person here, since I've changed you to what you are right now. You have us by your sides, and you can call us your families if you want to…"

"Are you offering me a home, Caius?" Lara asks him, touching his face softly as well. Caius surprised himself again by being still and not moving, allowing her to touch him freely in front of all the audiences. He hates being touched, but he liked it when she touches him. It was like a butterfly's touch, and he felt so warm and so loved at once. Loved? Can someone love him enough to love him like the way he felt she is doing to him?

"In a way. But I want you to stay with me. There is so much that I do not understand about you, starting from the way you transform," Caius said to her, touching her long hair. He wanted to braid them, as he does to his sister all those years ago. Yes, he had a little sister, and he dotes on her so much and constantly braids her long blonde hair. But now, he didn't even remember her face, only her long golden hair.

"You are going to experiment on me?" Lara asks curiously, half afraid that Caius would really poke needles into her skin. For a moment, she saw he bristles in anger.

"Whoever that dares to say or suggest that word to me would be punished severely. My little star, you are mine to do as I please. Stay with me, and I shall give you everything you ever wanted…"

"Including food and lodgings and books?" Lara asks, her eyes wide with excitement. She salivated at the thought of food, and caught herself when Caius started to chuckle.

"All you could think of is food?" Caius said, chuckling at her all the more when her expression turns into that of someone being shy. Her blush escalated to another degree of red, and the red spreads to her ear. Caius lets out a bellowing laugh from his lungs and laughed out loud at her expression.

"Stop laughing!" Lara said, slapping his chest playfully. Caius held her in check and covers her face, pulling her into his embrace and prevents others from seeing her blushing self.

"Only I can enjoy your blushing face. The rest would have to see for it themselves some other time accidentally. Now, let me bring you back to your room. You looked tired…" Caius said to her, and heard her yawn in tiredness. She fell asleep soon enough on his shoulders, and that surprises everyone again.

"She can sleep?" Aro ask, baffled with the revelation. "None of us can sleep here, but she can? How is it so? It is extraordinary!"


	5. Dinner

**5****th**** Night – Dinner…**

"What made you want to turn me, Caius?" Lara asks softly, observing the beautiful snow-haired vampire snapped his neck towards her direction so fast that she is sure he would have snapped his own neck had he been a human. The question came so suddenly from her that he couldn't be more surprise, his eyes wide and a strange, shocked expression on his beautiful features.

She sleeps through the day, and woke up in the night time, when the stars are out and the moon is out there as well in the sky, surrounded by black ink of skies and thousands and thousands of stars. She loves the cold air the window is providing her, and stood there transfixed, staring up into the sky.

"Caius?" Lara called again, reminding him that she is still waiting for his answers. "May I know the reason why you didn't just kill me by sucking me dry that day? What made you stop?"

Caius was silent. He never had to worry about others asking him questions. He is a King, and he remains so forever. However, this little… overly adorable girl came, and she came tumbling into his life. Their souls were intertwined, and he knew it from the start. From the very first time he saw her, it is either he kills her while he drinks all her blood and become more powerful, or he makes her stay with him forever by his side as his next Queen.

He sighs to himself, and lifts up one hand to touch her face. She leans into his hand automatically, and he smiles slightly. To see her by his side, so fearless and so carefree and offering everything she has to him, it was pleasurable. And it felt good for once.

For once, he felt alive.

"As you have seen here in this underground Volturi's Palace, we Vampires have mates," Caius started his story. "We have our own designated scent to attract preys and mates. A Vampire finds their mates by scent. It would appear to be a specific, appealing, lovely scent, so lovely that you won't ever want to stop breathing in that scent, even if it hurts you so much to do so."

Turning towards her, Caius's hand reached for her face and caresses the curled dark locks that frames around her face. "Humans merely smelled more like our dinner than anything else. And yet you smelled so appealing to me even while you were still human. I sought you out the very first night I detected your scent in the air by my mating instinct, and found you staring at me from a window in the most beautiful expression I have ever seen. It was my intention to bring you here into the Volturi Underground Palace and make you my mate, and I was more than ecstatic when you appear to be in the tour group Heidi had fished for all of us as dinner."

The truth is more embarrassing to be told than to keep it to him and his thoughts alone until Aro found out from his gift of prying touches. While he is slowly draining her life force by sucking and feeding on her deliciously mouthwatering blood, he is suddenly seized with a thought that his world – all the reasons that have kept him alive for well over 3000 years – would cease to exist if she were to die. It was a strange feeling and thought, but a thought nonetheless. He had never had a second thought about feeding on someone living. After all, nothing beats the taste of fresh blood.

But her… she made him have second thoughts – the very first one in all these thousands of years. For once, he had real fear in his chest. He couldn't imagine living in a world without her. He would have brush these thoughts aside were it not for the sudden gravity of the situation, and of her slowly dying in his arms. He had not allowed any of these feelings to invade his personal being, but it had came so suddenly and easily without him realizing it, and the next thing he knew, he had transformed from being cold and cruel to someone who wanted to be the one who warms up and be kind to her. He couldn't understand these courses of event that has happened all too suddenly. Just what is she to be able to make him have second thoughts? He wanted to know desperately, and he wanted her, not just her delicious mouthwatering blood since day one he detected it in the air. He wanted her whole being – with him – here – in Volterra – forever.

Forever.

"And so," Lara said suddenly, breaking the silence and his reverie, jolting him back into reality. "I became your dinner _and _your mate, thanks to Heidi's superb fishing skills…?" Lara said questioningly, one of her eyebrows rose elegantly at Caius. When he gave no reply, she continues, this time taking note to lean in towards Caius's face and whispers in a low tone, "And may I sum it all up that you acted cold and indifferent towards me because you don't wish to get angry at me – knowing that you are a large, angry ball of angry, moody energy – and ended up hurting my feelings for that?"

Caius's face disappeared from her view almost immediately. When she straighten herself up, she finds that he is already opening the doors of his chamber and had his back towards her, "Have it your way with your thinking, Lara. I shall have no say in that part. You are free to think of it as anything you wishes it to be."

"Wait, Caius!" Lara calls to him, running out into the corridors when Caius just simply disappears from her sight. Caius – who had darted out of the room in the speed of light - stopped immediately at her command. It infuriates him to no end that he would succumb to her request easily, but whenever he saw her glittering eyes looking at him with that look of hers, his cold heart melted.

She stopped her tracks in front of him and takes a deep breath. Now that she is a vampire, she could smell things that she couldn't have smelled before this while she is human. Caius – as she had found out on the moment she awakens from her slumber – smelled a little like burnt sugar, pine, and yet at the same time he smelled like the scent after rains often brought down onto the earth. She notices quickly that when he is angry, his scent changes into something akin to a musky set of pure male scent, and when he is teasing her, he smelled like burnt sugar, sweet and… not that sweet at the same time. It was just a nice combination that made him smelled irresistible to her. She could keep on smelling that scent forever, if only he would permit her to do so.

Opening her eyes, Lara awakens from her stunned moments of taking in his scent and clears her throat in an embarrassing way, all of which Caius noted down and remembers. "I never thanked you for keeping me alive, Caius, despite in this state-" Lara gestured to her body as a way of telling him that he has turned her into a vampire. "Thank you."

Caius never knew his name sounded so perfect on her tongue. He almost couldn't believe his ears when Lara thanks him for turning her into a vampire. It is basically the first time someone thanks him for something bad that has happened to them. The title 'eternal damnation' comes with a price, and the price would be something that she couldn't handle if she values life too much.

But for now…

"Lara," Caius started in a rather commanding tone, which silences her almost immediately with a set of wide surprised eyes staring intently at him. In a flash, he had her in his arms – princess styled – and walks back steadily to her chamber, secretly savoring the moments he have with her and the feeling of having her in his arms. "I want you to stay here in the chambers. It is safer this way. I cannot have you wandering the halls without my presence around you, seeing as you could have been mistaken easily as a runaway meal. I won't have anything happen to you anymore than turning you into a vampire."

"But I'm hungry," Lara said to Caius in a small timid voice, managing to stop Caius with the revelation. Slowly, the older vampire turns his head to look at her, and cocked his head to the side when he heard an odd growling sound coming from her. At the cue of that sound, she blushes and avoids looking at him.

"I'm hungry, Caius," she said to him, her eyes casted on the cold tiled grounds. "It's been a while since I ate… I wanted to eat something, like roast beef or fruits…"

"You want food?" Caius said to her, curious and surprised with her demands. Roast beef and fruits? Why, she is half a vampire, how could she want food instead of blood?

That reminds him. When she first awakens, she does not even hold her throat in regards to the extreme thirst in her throat. Instead, she chooses to run freely like a vampire. She loves running in the outdoor, barefooted with him by her side watching her like a hawk. He knew all those, and yet how could he disregarded her needs to drink blood?

Unless she does not need it.

She does not need to drink blood, because she is a half vampire… an almost dhampir… a hafling… something that is not supposed to exist in the whole wide world.

And yet she is here. With him, safely by his sides and in his arms. He wanted her to stay, because he knew she is the one he has been waiting for all of his years as a vampire. He wanted a forever with her, watch the sun rise and the sun goes down with her, living day by day and everyday they would be together forever. Knowing that, a smile suddenly blooms on his perfect face.

But still, he will have to test her.

He had already arranged for someone to bring a human into the palace. With that, he sets her down gently and leads her into her room.

"Here you go…" Caius said softly, not wanting to surprise her or scare her away. He wanted her happy and smiling up at him. She is so much more beautiful that way. "Your dinner."

Lara quickly bounded into the room, and came smashing herself into the chest of a man. The man held her softly, and she looks up.

"Sorry," Lara said to him, and the man quickly lets go of her when Caius growls in anger and jealousy. "Hi, I'm Lara…"

"Please don't kill me…" the man said, shivering in a small corner while he bundles himself up in a small ball. "Please don't kill me…"

"Kill you?" Lara asks, feeling strange. She looks at Caius, a strange expression on her beautiful face. True to what Caius has predicted, he felt anger in her rising steadily in a stream.

"Kill him? You meant to say that this is my dinner?!" Lara said, almost exclaiming in disbelief.

"Please… please…" the man said, crying softly into his knees. Caius watches without an expression on his face, and went on to drag the man and extends his neck to her.

"Kill him. He is your dinner. You'll die without blood…" Caius said to her, using his long fingernails to puncture a hole in the man's neck. The man screams, and Lara screams.

"Stop it!" Lara said, closing her ears and closing her eyes. "Please, let him go! I don't want any blood! I want food, not blood! Please, Caius!"

"No!" Caius said, forcing her to submit to him. "You will have him or nothing will be given to you!"

"No! No! No! No!" Lara screams, rejecting his advances with the man. When Caius threw the man to her, she screams.

"Noooo!" Lara screams, running to the bathroom and locks herself inside there. But Caius is faster. He ran to her and held the door open, holding her hand and dragging her out.

"You don't wanna feed?" Caius asks her, and watch her nod her head sincerely with tears in her eyes. Tears. Real tears.

Vampires do not cry tears. They are too dry and too old to cry. Besides, there is nothing worth crying about. There is no liquid anymore in their bodies, but the blood of their victims in their stomach. He is surprised, and with that, he slowly wipes off her tears with his fingers. He did not want to see her sad. Seeing her in this state broke his cold icy heart.

"Then what do you want to do about him?" Caius asks her gently, not wanting to hurt or scare her further. He wanted her by his side, and to do so, he did not ever want to make her scared of him. ever.

She sobbed into his chest and said to him, "Let him go please… make him forget this place and forget us… Let him be the human I cannot be…"

Caius sighs. It is the first time that he had submitted so freely to a human. Let alone one that is half a human and half a vampire, he thought to himself. He held her softly, and leads her out to the door.

"Wait here," Caius said to her, and she nodded obediently. He touches her chin, and pulls her in to kiss her forehead.

"You," Caius started, his voice rang in the cold corridor alarmingly loud, startling the poor man as he shivers and jumps at the sound of Caius's voice. "What's your name?"

"A-Adam, s-sir," the man stuttered. He looked like he's in his twenties, and looked rather petrified at the sight of the mythical vampires standing in front of him. Braving himself to ask, the man stutters out his questions, "W-what do you want from me?"

"I'm letting you go," Caius said in a toneless voice, his face impassive and holds no emotions. Caius flitted and came close to the man's face, his eyes staring into the man's eyes. Leaning in, Caius made sure the man had eye contact with him before he started to use his powers on him. "You will forget what happens today and go home. You shall have a dreamless night, and tomorrow will be just like any other day. Are we clear?"

Dazed, Adam replies the vampire with a slurred, "Yes…" and swiftly delivered the man to his home near the outskirts of Volterra. Caius came back just as swiftly and enters into a meeting chamber, where he is sure his brothers would be waiting inside.

"I no longer heard the sound of heartbeat, brother," Aro started pleasantly, flipping through thick leather bound book. "And I also happen to miss the smell of blood as well. I suppose Lara dear requested her meal to be… released…?"

Caius sighs heavily and sat down on one of the plush luxuriously designed chair. "We'll need to hire someone who knew how to cook."

"What?" Marcus started, shocked by the request. "She's not tempted by blood?"

"Apparently, she is disgusted by the sight of it," Caius said in a defeated tone. "She's hungry, and she needs human food soon or she'll tear the room apart for anything edible. For now, the fruits meant for display purpose would have to do. All she does is cry and cry and cry and… I don't know what else I can do for her…"

"Well then," Aro said to him cheerfully. "We shall all hire a cook that knew how to cook delicious meals for her. Since we can't eat, and I am sure little Lara doesn't want to eat in loneliness, we shall all accompany her to eat."


	6. Food

**6****th**** Night - Food**

The cook is quickly found and put into the unused kitchen in the Volterra castle. He cooks up a course meal worth 10 people, and each and every one of it is put out to let her taste, to see which one she likes.

And of course, everyone came to see her eat. They were so astounded that she could still eat with her mouth that has been transformed into a vampire's mouth. It is a strange thing to find her hate blood and hate killings, and she ignores everyone and the world while she gobbles down the food greedily, like a starved person.

Well, she did slept for more than 7 days when she transforms. It is unbelievably abnormal. It is not supposed to happen. Perhaps it is something that is nothing like it is in the world, and they would have to wait to see if she would show any of her other powers. Aro has sensed that she might just be the Queen for Caius that everyone is waiting other than Athenodora. He would have to kill Athenodora, so that Lara could be Queen one day and stood by him.

For now, let her have her time. Let her sleep soundly without any evil thoughts plaguing her mind. Let her eat all she wants and have everything she wants in the world.

Then he notices. She is still wearing her clothes from the time when he turns her. There is a bit of blood somewhere on the shirt, and pants. Oh dear. He hates pants on girls. He would have to force her to wear something feminine next time, and perhaps Jane could help in doing everything.

"Slowly, slowly," Caius said to her, serving her a glass of wine. She thanks him and gulps down the wine in one single breath. She loves eating, and this has never tasted so delicious before.

"You did starve me in a way, Caius," she said, munching on an apple slice stuck on a fork with absolute delish. "I slept for a whole 7 days – as you have told me – and I woke up this morning only to get my first meal during dinner time. And everything is delicious!" Lara said to them, almost finishing everything on the table.

"But this is a 10 person course meal…" Alec said to her, wondering at her abilities to finish everything in such a short time.

"But it's so delicious… especially the beef steak. Just cooked to the quality and the standard I wanted… so soft and smooth… yum…" Lara said, closing her eyes and licking her lips at the thought of munching the delicious beef in her mouth.

"Try the fruits…" Caius said to her, pushing the large bowl of fruit in front of her. She gasps in delight and begun digging into the bowl of fruits, finishing them in the shortest amount of time.

"I'm full…" Lara said, and it was then she realizes that everyone is staring at her. All includes Aro, Marcus and the rest of the bodyguards. They watch her eat with a strange expression on their faces, and it made her shy all of a sudden.

"I have never thought that watching another person eat would be such a wonderful experience…" Aro said to himself, watching her with a strange new light. Caius, of course, is not happy that everyone is staring at his Lara.

His Lara? Since when did he start to label her as his? Oh dear, this must not be good…

"Enough!" Caius said, standing up and startling everyone. Lara included. He extends his hand out to her, and she automatically lets him hold her hand.

"What is it?" Lara asks, curious with his sudden change of demeanor.

"I wanted to show you something. Come…" Caius said to her, and leads her out of the dining hall. The cook is there as well, and he gave her a low bow for loving his food so much as to finish everything. Lara smiles at him and waves goodbye to everyone.

"She is an intriguing character, is she not, my brother?" Aro asks Marcus, watching the vampire nods his head in agreement.

Caius brought Lara to a large door, and he pushes open the door gently. He guides her into it and heard her gasp in surprise.

"Books!" Lara exclaims in excitement. She turns and turns and turns, and everywhere she saw were books. They are overflowing, and the paintings and drawings and scrolls and… oh, they are everywhere!

"Books… oh, books… I missed them so much… oh, they smell so wonderful… oh… oh… they are everywhere!" Lara said, happily running everywhere and swipe her hand over each and every one of the books neatly organized in there. "Oh, I love them… oh, I love this place… I shall sleep here henceforth until I can finish everything…"

"No, you shall not," Caius started, moving towards her and pulling her into his embrace. He never wanted to be close to others. Hell, even when Athenadora is his wife he never wanted to sleep with her unless it is of the utmost need. He wanted Lara to be by his side, to be in his arms, at all times.

He smelled her hair, and they smelt so heavenly he couldn't stop smelling them. Her hair is long and he wanted to braid them for her. Her hair felt like heavy silk, and they are so soft and cold and heavy that he couldn't stop touching them.

He held her close to him, and Lara is silent. She allows him to do as he please with her hair. Somehow, she felt it is strange that a man like him would like to touch her hair. It is nothing special, at all. And yet the comforting touch he conveys through his touches on her hair soothes her to a degree of calm and silent. He made her silent. He made her calm. And he calms her.

"You need rest, my little star," Caius said to her softly, not wanting to alarm her like last time. He liked to tease her, but at the same time he wanted her to be safe and sound, and like him enough to be by his side at all times. He felt that it is not safe for her to be wandering around alone, and he contemplated putting her with Aro's wife. But still, he did not want her to be near that woman. That woman has been put into custody for nearly a few centuries, and by now, she must have been mad. He did not want his little Lara to be mad as well. He wanted her by his side. At all times.

"You need rest. You are half a human, remember?" Caius said, soothing her by caressing her silky hair. She closes her eyes at his ministration. "Rest in your room. I have gone through all ends to prepare it for you. And you need to change into a dress somehow. Come, we can have a go at the library at another time. For now, you need a long bath. Jane will help you select a dress…"

"Jane!" Caius called, and Jane appears suddenly at the door.

"Yes, your highness?" Jane said, bowing low at the sight of the vampire. Lara screamed at the sight of Jane, and bounded to her in a single movement.

"Jane! Wherever have you been!? I am so bored without you!" Lara said to her, and Jane is temporarily shocked to stillness. Caius smiles at the sight of Lara's happiness at seeing Jane, and nods his head at Jane, giving her permission to lead her away from here.

"Lady Lara," Jane said to her. "Come, I will bring you to change your clothes."

"Don't be so formal with me Jane," Lara said in a happy voice. "Call me Lara, like everyone else here. I don't like the status things. What's my status anyway? Oh, dear, I didn't know. Would I be staying here forever? I don't know that as well. Caius said I have new dresses. Is that true?"

Lara asks a lot of questions on their way to her room. Jane fines her a bubbling person, and gradually starts to warm up to her. Jane even smiles at her once, and that made Lara scream in delight again.

"Oh, you are so beautiful and adorable, Jane!" Lara exclaims, hugging Jane out of the blue again. "Oh, I love you so much already!"

"Master Caius is planning to make you into his bride soon," Jane said to her, smiling a little at the sight of the smiling Lara. "He had wanted to find a replacement with Athenodora, who had caused him troubles throughout the centuries and shamed him so."

"Atheno… what…?" Lara asked, feeling all weird when she mentions another woman's name. Could it be that she is the other woman that Caius loves?

"Athenodora. She is the current wife of Caius. He did not make her into his Queen, because she is a reigning piece of shit…" Jane said, feeling angry all of a sudden. Athenodora has made life hell for everyone here, and made her life hell as well when she is just a new vampire. Then, she realizes her language, and quickly apologize to Lara.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for the language. I don't usually use it, but I'm so angry…"

To her surprise, Lara laughs heartily. "Don't you worry about it. I like it when you use language like that. It made you look less formal. And, oh, you need to change your clothes too! I have too much here, so you might as well wear something else!"

"No, I can only wear what is mine. All of this is prepared by Master Caius, and he wanted you to have it and wears them often," Jane said to her, bowing to her in respect.

"Here, go on ahead and try them!" Lara said, taking out a handful of dresses and piles it on Jane's open hands. Jane had no time to argue when Lara pushes her into the large bathroom.

Lara screams every time Jane tries on a new dress. If Jane could blush, she would have done so a hundred times. Lara kept on praising Jane for her beauty with the dress, and forces her to take the dress.

"Go on ahead and take them. I can ask Caius to buy me new dresses again."

"No, I can't. Master Caius he…"

"Bye!" Lara said, pushing Jane out of the door with the pile of dresses and closes the door. Jane pounded on the door and asks her to open the door and take back the dress.

"Wear the dress tomorrow! If not I shall punish you!" Lara said to Jane through the door, smiling widely to herself.

That is when Caius chooses to appear beside Jane.

"What is it?" Caius ask Jane, who trembles in fear at the sight of the ice cold King.

"Lara she… well… she ask me to wear them tomorrow…" Jane said to Caius, closing her eyes and prepares herself for the lashings that the King is sure to give her.

To her surprise, the King chuckles.

"I knew she is in need of a friend. But I never knew she would give you these valuable dresses so soon… take care of her. I shall make you her personal bodyguard anytime soon if she wishes to…" Caius said, waving a hand for Jane to retreat. Jane scurries away quickly, smiling to herself for once in her life with the gifts that Lara had bestowed upon her. New dresses, and in such a beautiful color as well. She would wear them tomorrow, for everyone and for Lara.

Caius enters her room silently and found her preparing to take a bath. He stood there, transfixed with her beauty. She sheds her dress down to nothing, and when she bends forward, he saw there is a strange marking on her back. It was in the shape of a strange Sanskrit word, and he wonders what it was that made it look so familiar. He mentally remembers it and flitted out of her room quickly.

At night, when Lara is deep asleep in her new bed, Caius came into her room again to watch her sleep. Truly, the most astounding thing in the world is dreams and the ability to sleep. Her eyelids fluttered in her sleep, and he presumes that she is dreaming.

He sat down near her, holding her hand in his. He felt her gripped his hand in return, and she smiles in her sleep.

Smiling so soon? The King said, smiling a little at the sight of her sleeping so peacefully. She settles down very quickly, and he knew, she would have been willing to go with him were he to propose to her when she is human. But now that she is here with him, he couldn't care less of all the things in the world. He wanted her here, and so she shall be here.

That night, Caius accompanies her sleeping. Occasionally, she would toss around restlessly, and sank into another dream and slumber with a small smile.

"Caius…" she calls his name as she sleeps. The King is so surprised, that he immediately lets go of her hand and flitted to the door. Then he notices that she is still asleep, only mumbling his name. "Caius… hmmm…" she mumbles, and continues to sleep.

It pleases him that he is inside her dream. He felt happy knowing that he is there for her at every moment of her life now that she is his to please. He wanted to please her, to make her happy, to make her satisfy with everything here. Soon, he will make her his. Oh, how he longed to feel the feeling of being buried deep inside her and make her moan and scream in pleasure. He wanted to kiss her lips, and slip his tongue inside her mouth. He wanted to do everything with her, and he shall make her Queen…

The next day, Caius went out to do something and orders Alex and Demetri to watch over his little star.

"Do not, as in _do not_, touch her or stare at her. I will gouge out your eyes for that," he warned the both of them, and they nodded their heads in understanding.

With a swish of his long cloak, Caius is out of the castle. He has to do some signing of business outside in a small café, and he needed to do so quickly before the sun is up. He needed to be careful, lest some humans see him glowing and glittering and things. He longs to be with Lara, and before he goes out, he went in to her room to see her for one last time.

"Lara?" Caius calls, knocking onto her door and inviting himself into her room. She is still slumbering deeply. As he recalls, she used to sleep into most of the days. Unlike a vampire that does not sleep, her waking hours deems between evening and before midnight. Such short hours. He would have to train her to wake up earlier. But for now, he shall let her sleep. It is better that she sleeps at the hours he is busy. He did not want any trouble to stir when he is away. He believes he would be backing home to the castle in the late evenings. He would at least be able to accompany her in her dinner.

Sitting down onto the heavy bed, he kisses her forehead softly and whispers sweet nothings to her.

"I want to make love with you. I want to pound into you so hard you scream my name for more. I want to rape you while you sleep, and at the same time, I want to fill you up with my everything. I want you, and you shall have all of me…" Caius said to her, and with one last kiss, he flitted out of the room and out from the castle.

True to his prediction, he came back late in the evening. There is a small commotion in front, and Jane walks to and fro in the same pace, wringing her hands in a worried fashion.

"Master Caius!" Jane called, running up to him and flashes to him a worried look. "Lara, she…"

"What?" Caius angrily exclaims, feeling the worried nerves tugging at his cold heart. "I told those two brats to look after her well!"

With that, Caius flitted to her room. There are servants crowding outside, and when he went into the room, Demetri and Alex were fussing over Lara.

"Lara?" Caius calls frantically, an anxious look plastered on his face when he first barged into their chamber.

"I'm here, Caius," Lara answers back almost timidly from behind the curtains. He smelled two other male vampires in the chamber with her, and with that he growls angrily.

When he did finally sees her, all thoughts regarding the other two male vampires being inside his territory with his little star alone flew out of the window.

"What happened?" Caius asks softly, his cold finger ghosting gently over the large purple bruise over her forehead. "How did this happen? Who did this to you?"

Lara smiles brightly at Caius's gentle ministration. "Oberon did this to me," Lara said, giggling when she sees the confused expression on Caius face. "I was reading A Midsummer's Night Dream and accidentally bumped myself into the pillar. It'll heal soon, Caius, so don't worry…"

"What on earth are the both of you doing?" Caius scolded Alec, then Demetri. Both of them stood rigidly at the end of the bed with their hands behind their back. After all, they are standing in the presence of the most feared vampire in all of Volterra. "I have two of the most powerful bodyguards in Volterra to protect her and now this happens?!" Caius finishes his words while gesturing towards Lara's large bruise on her forehead.

"Caius, please," Lara started, but Caius silences her with a wave of her hand.

"I will not tolerate this. She is important to me, and she is vulnerable to these bruises and injuries. She is half a human and half a vampire, and you should have known that earlier! You should have protected her in my place when I am away from her, just as you have been assigned to do so-"

"Caius," Lara started again, but this time, she grabs his hand and tugged him down. Caius's body has been automatically programmed to succumb to his blood singer's every requests. Even with her weak strength as an incomplete vampire, she could overpower him with even the smallest flick of her finger if she so wishes to. "Please, Caius. I am at fault too. I read while walking-"

"And they should have steered you out of harm's way-"

"And I bumped into the pillar," Lara finishes with a shrug. "The pillars… they're so hard. Are they always that hard? Coz I can't remember bumping into a pillar that hard…"

"In case you haven't notice, my lady," Alec started daringly. "All vampires are as hard as the pillar you've walked into earlier this afternoon."

Hearing Caius growl in response, Alec silences himself immediately to save his own neck. But he needn't do so because Lara had stepped in to save everyone's neck.

"Please, Caius," Lara started again with a pleading tone. "It's not their fault. Fine, I admit that it is my fault for walking into the pillars in the first place. They'll heal like they always do, Caius. I'll be fine."

The two bodyguard vampires almost scampered out of the room in a clumsy sort of way, nearly bumping into each other when Caius gave them a sideway glare as a sign for them to scram from the room. The snow-haired vampire narrowed his eyes in distaste over their behaviors and returns back to Lara.

The purple bruise stood out starkly against her pale skin color, making it all the more noticeable on her forehead. Carefully, Caius reaches over to her bruise and gently ghosted his hand over it, wishing that she isn't frail and those prone to self-inflicted injuries. It worries him a great deal everyday about her carelessness that it gave him less time to be angry over various matters. Even Marcus and Aro have been starting to give him a strange look, and he had just been dying to get the matter out of his head.

"Don't worry about me, Caius," Lara said softly, noting his change of expression when he sets his eyes on her bruise. "I may not be a full vampire, but I can heal faster than I normally would when I was a human. I'll be fine…"

"Are you sure?" Caius said to her, touching the purple bruise softly with his cold digits. She sighs in relief at the cold feeling his fingers is emanating.

"I am… I'll be fine soon," Lara said to him, staring into his cold red eyes. Somehow, they seemed warm and beautiful to her, like a ruby gem shining brightly in his eye sockets. He is a beautiful King, with his hair parted in the middle and his ruby red lips curved at the ends. Currently, they are in a scowl. She did not know that a scowl would look so beautiful on someone.

"You are so beautiful, Caius…" Lara said to him, one hand palming his face while she smiles up at him. "So beautiful… so beautiful…"

"You are as well…" Caius said to her, one hand running over her cheek and using his thumb, he rubbed the sides of her lips. He longed to kiss her, but he'll have to wait for the right time. He wanted it to be special, and he wanted her to remember it for eternity. Not in this situation, and certainly not in this unromantic place.

"You are so beautiful that you capture my heart the first time I saw you," Caius said to her, palming her face just like she did to his. "So beautiful that whenever I saw you, I am at the loss of words…"

"But you speak so many flowery languages to me…" Lara said to him, smiling all the more wider when his eyes suddenly blinked in confusions. "You see? You're saying that I am beautiful and all and you're talking none stop about it."

"I couldn't stop praising you, my little star. I couldn't stop. You're too beautiful, and you have to know that by being beautiful, you will earn the rage of Athenadora, my current wife…"

"You have a wife?!" Lara exclaims, surprised with the new knowledge.

Caius nodded his head. "I've wanted to tell you these ages ago. You have to make a promise to me to be my bride, and for that, I shall give you all the freedom you want. I will not have anyone touch you and sullies your innocence when it can be mine to have. I have to eradicate her, because she has been causing harm to the other Kings and threaten us with her existence and her status as my wife. I never made her queen because I know she will be this way. She is coming back due to the orders of the Kings now. And you have to be careful. I will assign more guards to guard you, and to do so, you must listen to me, alright?"

"Alright…" Lara said, leaning into Caius and rests her head on his shoulders. She felt safe with him here with her, and she slowly started to doze off again. "I'll be yours, if you would give me your word that you will love me properly like someone who is really in love…"

"Lara, sleep properly. You'll get an ache on your neck later when you woke up. Remember, you are a half human, not a full vampire…" Caius said to her, carrying her and placing her on the bed.

"Stay with me please…" Lara pleaded, and the King's heart melted at the sound of her pleading. He stays with her and sat on the bed, holding her hand and strokes it soothingly, knowing that she loves his touches greatly. She smiles in her sleep, and she slept peacefully that night in the bed with Caius sitting on the bed beside her, guarding her as she sleeps.


	7. The Ball - Last Chapter

**7****th**** Night – The Ball**

"There would be a ball here the day after tomorrow…" Aro said to the little crowd of vampires, Lara at Caius's side. He is not willing to let her go, and had forced her to sit on his lap. Soon, he shall have to ask someone to make a special chair for her. He wanted her by his side, and soon, with Aro and his stupid attitude, he would want to bring his wife down as well to his side. This shall earn her a small copious amount of freedom. In a way, Caius is doing good to Aro and his wife.

"A ball?" Lara said curiously. Aro turns his body around to look at her sideways. "A ball, as in, a ball?"

"Yes, a ball," Aro said, going to her and patted her head softly. Caius hisses and nearly went out on Aro, but Lara stopped him by holding onto his hand.

"Caius… please..." Lara said, and Caius is subsided. Aro chuckles at the lovebirds united so soon and turns back to the crowd.

"The ball shall be made in honor of Caius's, our King's soon to be bride. She will be made official as his bride the day after tomorrow and soon to be Queen…" Aro said, smiling widely at them.

"I am to be made your bride?" Lara said to Caius softly, and Caius smiles widely at her. Everyone was at the loss of words when they see how Caius so easily smiles up at her. She is just an outsider no few weeks ago, and now she is practically nailed inside his cold heart, warming him up when it is needed. How could it be so?

"Yes, my sweet," Caius said, holding up her hands and kissing the back of her hand softly. "I want you to be my bride. It is much safer that way. I've marked you as mine, but not many knew who you are unless they dare to take a bite out of you, which I do not permit to do so. You are mine, and mine always…"

"Yes, yes, yes," Aro said, musing to himself and mumbling jealously. He would like the attention of Lara as well, seeing as she is so beautiful and smells so inviting herself. "She is yours and she is not ours and we cannot touch her a little bit and we are not her brothers… yes, yes, yes. You win, Caius, my brother. But couldn't I let her feel what brotherly love I have for her? I mean, she is so adorable!"

"No!" Caius said, holding Lara to him tightly by the waist that she squeaked a little. "She is mine. You know the rules."

"But…"

"Caius…" Lara said, pleading to him as well. "Let him be. He is just being kind…"

"You don't know how sly he is, especially Aro when he is in one of his moods…" Caius said, sending Aro a heated glare. Aro shrunk from him a little.

"Caius, my brother. I meant her no harm. I just want to shower her with gifts and flowers and jewels and make her all the more beautiful for our coven."

"She is not a pot for display, Aro!" Caius said angrily, standing up with Lara in his arms. "She is my bride! And she pleases me, not you, Aro!"

With that, Caius strode out of the hall angrily in all his glory and his cloak bellowing behind him and Lara in his arms, waving goodbye to Aro and Marcus. Both Kings could not help it themselves but to wave at her as well.

"Jane," Aro calls, and Jane flitted immediately to the sight of the King.

"Yes, Aro?" Jane said to him, bowing low at the sight of the King.

"I want you to buy a beautiful dress for Lara. Money is not the problem. Make her beautiful. I want her to make Caius subside to her and in that way, Caius would be less moody with her around. It would be superb! Jewels, flowers, everything! Make her look like a bride! And you as well, my dear. Done yourself up in dress and flowers!"

"Yes, Aro," Jane said, receiving the black golden card that Aro is giving her. She flitted out of the castle and quickly went to stores to buy all the beautiful dresses and expensive jewels, bags, shoes and everything. She is happy that she is going to get Lara a surprise. She never forgets the beautiful dress that Lara gave her. It is the first time that someone of her status is giving her so many beautiful dresses. She felt absolutely in bliss!

"Caius," Lara said to him, as he flew through the halls with her in his arms. "Caius! Let me down this instant! I can walk!"

Caius stopped flitting and lets her down gently. She slides down from his arms and prepares to give him an earful, and found that there are many arts hanging on the walls.

"Oh my goodness…" Lara said, one hand going to her mouth to prevent herself from screaming in delight. There are statues everywhere, and pots and many other things that is in display. It practically covers the whole wall, and on both sides as well. There are draperies and tapestries and many other things that are old and very historical. It is a heaven for her.

"You like it?" Caius said, changing the topics and hopes that she will not be angry anymore. But how could she be angry when she sees such wonderful things?

"You!" Lara started, wanting to be angry, but smiling a bit. "You… Caius!" she started, but started to giggle against her will.

"Yes, my sweet?" Caius said, diving back into her and held her waist against his. "What is it that I can do for you with my Kingly status?"

"You… you are so naughty…" Lara started, giggling none stop and stares at all the beautiful art with all the passion in the world.

"Naughty?" Caius said to her, surprised with how she describes him. "Only naughty? And pray tell, why naughty? I thought naughty is for children, and not for a thousand year old King…"

"Because you are angry and throwing a tantrum one minute and the next you are trying to kiss me…" Lara said, laughing and trying to detach herself from the King.

"Kiss you?" Caius said to her, diving into her neck and inhales her wonderful scent. He couldn't help it, and his fangs came out. Caius is the only vampire King who had fangs, and unlike the rest of the Kings, he could take his fangs out and keep it at the back of his teeth. He liked being different from them all, and he wanted her so much.

"Caius…" Lara said, laughing still at him who won't let her go. "Caius…"

Momentarily, Caius is sent into a daze by her wonderful scent. He couldn't stop himself anymore, and his fangs drew closer at her neck. With one movement, he sank his fangs into her.

Lara did not scream. In fact, she had felt his fangs on her neck for a while now. She knew he is trying to control himself, but he couldn't. And so, she lets him. She felt good, having her blood sucked by him. It made her high, and she begun to feel a strange wetness between her legs. She rubbed her legs, and she moaned at the wonderful feeling it brought her.

"No… Caius… please… don't stop…" Lara said to him, as he continues to suck her blood. It tasted like nothing he has ever tasted before, and he couldn't stop. It was too delicious. Too good. Too fragrant.

Like a lily flower.

"Caius… Caius…" Lara called him, stroking his white hair with her hand gently. The King realizes he is still sucking her blood, and stopped abruptly. He retracted his fangs, and looks at Lara.

"I apologize… please… forgive me…" Caius said, kneeling down in front of her. Never before in his life had he kneeled in front of a woman. For the first time ever, he wanted her to not feel fear to him. He had wanted her so much, and now, he broke his control. She smells too good… too good…

"Caius… get up please… I am not mad…" Lara said to him, stroking his long white hair. Caius looks up at her with guilt warren face.

"You are not… mad?" Caius said disbelievingly. Lara smiles at him and held her neck, which is bleeding still. Caius took out a handkerchief and held it against her neck, stemming the blood flow.

"I apologize… you are too inviting… and you are too open to me… I accidentally succumb to my desires… please… I do not ever wish you harm…" Caius said to her, stroking her soft face and watch her smile up at him.

"I want to… now that you have me, you can have my blood anytime you want…" Lara said to him, smiling at him widely with her beautiful smile that for a moment, he is stunned. "I do not ever wish for you to have blood with another person. I want you to have only mine, please…"

"Then I swear by my soul… that I shall not have any other person's blood other than yours now… You are mine, and I am yours to have as well…" Caius said, kissing the back of her hands gratefully. Never before had he wanted to please someone so much. Then she came waltzing into his life. He first thought that she is an annoyance, something like a thorn in his sides that kept poking him nonstop. But he likes to look at her. Slowly, he finds that he started to falls in love with her. And so, he is here to please her.

The day is spent with a lot of vampire servants running up and down, preparing for the upcoming ball. Everyone is invited, including all vegetarian vampires and non vegetarian vampires. Everyone is invited from all over the world, just so that they could introduce to the world Caius's new bride.

"Come, Jane!" Lara calls, pulling Jane's hand along to her room. Jane has been laughing non stop since that afternoon from Lara's outrageous jokes and the outside world. She is happier as a vampire, and no longer the sullen looking little beauty. Jane willingly lets Lara pulls her into the room, and together, they donned up their dresses.

"Let me do your hair, Lara," Jane offered, and Lara shakes her head.

"No. Let me do your hair first. I am good with long hair, and it is easy for me to make a hairdo for myself. Come, sit down and let me play with your hair…" Lara said, and forces Jane to sit on the vanity mirror's seat. Jane sat down heavily and lets Lara play with her hair and put all sorts of jewels in her hair, and a string of pearls is braided into her long blonde hair bun. Lara draped the pearls over her forehead, and a small white flower is put into her hair.

"You looked absolutely mystifying, Jane," Lara said to her, and Jane laughs.

"But you are the King's bride. Surely you are more beautiful than me in person after your great hairdo," Jane said to her, laughing none stop at how beautiful she looks. Gosh, she is so happy with Lara's presence here. And with that, Jane stood up and lets Lara sat on the chair.

"Now it is your turn. You have said that you don't need my help? Well, I'll help you braid your hair then…" Jane said, and started to braid her glossy long locks. It has been growing longer than ever, and Lara has contemplated cutting them off to suit her taste. But Caius has stopped her, and made her swore never to cut off her hair.

"It would be such a waste to cut off such beautiful hair. Leave them be, please, my sweet. For me?"

And Lara did. She couldn't possibly stop him or anything. She doesn't want to displease him. Although she might look beautiful with short locks, but still, she likes long locks better. Since Caius loves long locks, then she shall keep them to herself.

Finally, the ball begun. Everyone from around the world came at the invitation of the Three Kings. Including the Cullens. They all have sullen faces on, and Edward is careful with his new wife, Bella.

"Well, well, well," Aro said, coming down from the stairs dressed all in a white tuxedo. "The Cullens! My favorite clan! How are you, Carlisle?"

Aro hugged Carlisle, and Carlisle had no choice but to let Aro see his memories. Bella has been warned off and she is not permitted to use her powers here unless someone was to harm them. Since Aro only wanted to see their memories, then it is counted as something harmless.

"We are fine, Aro," Carlisle said grudgingly, thanking the King for his generosity in inviting them to this grand party. "Thank you for inviting us."

"This is not just my party, my brother. We are all family here. You once stay here for a century, remember?" Aro said, barking up a laugh from deep within his chest. Carlisle laughed along with Aro, reminiscing on the good part of the memories with the Volturies here in the capital of Volterra.

"We have heard that Caius has found himself a bride at last? Then might I dare to ask… what about Athenadora, his current wife?" Carlisle asked, wanting to know and quench his desires to know the secret.

"Well, Caius my brother is going to divorce the wife. He has been causing us harm ever since she leaves us. What a temper for that temptress. She has been betraying Caius and sleeping around with guards. He found them locked in such an embrace, with her legs entwined between a man's body, and that man kept pounding into her, oblivious to Caius's presence. Caius is so angry that he beheaded the man while the man is still fucking her… opps, my language… hahah!" Aro said, blubbering non stop to Carlisle. Alice is looking all around the place, appearing to be fascinated with the designs.

"I'm gonna make these designs once we get home. They are so beautiful!" Alice said to Bella, and dragged her off to have some fun with something else.

Since everyone is a vampire, they have prepared for them animal blood and human blood, separated and presented in all sorts of delicacies. There are iced blood, pudding blood and drinking blood. All are exquisite in their own way. And strangely, there are food as well.

"The food…? There are food here? Somebody eats human food here?" Carlisle asked, curious with the presence of food.

"Well, they are for Caius's bride and for your granddaughter, little Renesmee… where is she? I've longed to see her after so long. Don't worry, my brother. I have enough of powers here to last me a lifetime forever…" Aro said to Carlisle, patting his back soothingly.

"Caius's bride eats?" Carlisle said, surprised with the revelation. Esme came up to him and touches his shoulders.

"Yes, it would seem to be that way. And she eats a lot as well. And sleeps for the most part of the day. Caius is so worried that she wouldn't wake up when she is first turned. She slept and turned for 7 days…"

"7 days!?" Carlisle said, surprised with the discovery.

A loud bell is sounded in the hall.

"I present to you, his royal highness, King Caius, and his bride, Lady Lara!" the announcer said, sounding the bell once again. Trumpets are blown all over the place, and out came the royal couple.

"So she is Lady Lara?" Carlisle said to Aro, and Aro smiles.

"Beautiful isn't she? She is my new sister, and I adore her so much… she hates gifts, but still, Caius loves to shower her with it, and so we all do to… Jane is her best friend here. It is such a miracle to make that girl smile and laugh, and she did it all on first day here with us!" Aro said, admiring the beautiful figure of Lara coming down the stairs slowly.

A large crowd of masquerading dancers hypnotized Lara. It was so beautiful. Everything is decorated to their utmost beauty, and golden silk curtains are draped everywhere, making the place seems like a golden palace, magical enough to be seen and float within it. Like a dream

Like a dream.

"Are you alright, Lara my dear?" Caius said to her, touching her hand softly. Lara smiles back at him.

"I'm fine. Just dazed. Everything is so beautiful here…" Lara said to him. She watches everything under the dim light and the scent of all the vampires hypnotized one's senses.

Caius left her after he is pulled away from her by Aro. Jane brought her to the drink table, and offered her the blood pudding. She rejected it with disgust, and opted for a creamy cheese cake. She loves cheese cake, especially when they are served cold. She fights with Bella's child with the last cheesecake, and when the chef came out with another new cheesecake, they play with him and pushes the cheesecake onto his face.

The chef is obviously angry, but laughs when he saw just how adorable and beautiful the both of them are. One a hafling, while the other is also a hafling, but a soon to be Queen. He is happy that he is able to serve them food. And he couldn't stop cooking or baking. They are so hungry, and it seems that they are everlastingly hungry all the time.

Caius saw Lara passes through the crowd, and her beautiful eyes are set to gaze on his and a lovely smile grazed her seductive red lips, painted with a deep red color that shines with such sweetness he wanted to kiss them now. He wanted to chase after her, to touch her and feel her in his arms, but she fled away with a wide smile on her lips, a black and gold mask on her face. It was the most exquisite mask of them all, with lace and a bit of crystals hung underneath the mask and in the middle of the mask it. It suits her like a Queen…

She leads him on with another smile, her dimples stood out adorably against her porcelain skin before she disappears into the crowd, her red and gold dress fluttering behind her, begging him to chase her and pulls her skirt up so he can have her all to himself for that night in their bed.

He searches wildly for her, ignoring the other entire guest who had wanted to toast him and congrajulate him for finding his one soul mate. Then he found her.

There she is, he thought to himself.

He found her standing nearby a high table with a drink in her hand. Lara was laughing along with Jane about a joke that looks seriously funny. She can't stop laughing, and Caius stares on, walking to her in a dazed motion. He came to her suddenly, and Lara was surprised.

"May I have this dance, my sweet?" Caius said to her, extending one hand to her. She stares on at him, and took it solemnly. He kept his eyes on her all the time, and for once, Lara is surprised at his forwardness.

Caius is not used to showing how he feels about her in a crowd this big. But he can no longer hold it back to himself. She is too beautiful, and if he were to hold it to himself, he would have gone crazy with want, and watch other men snatch her into their embrace. He wanted her all to himself, and she is his.

Caius lead her to the dance floor, bringing her body closer to his body gently, afraid of hurting her while he stares down at her. She is so short, and so adorable. How could he not love her at first sight? And Gods above, she smells so good…

The lovely pools of her peculiar colored eyes admired him from below, and he stares back into her eyes, enchanted by them all the more he stares them.

"I love you so very much, my Lara dearest," Caius said, confessing to her his love. Lara smiles shyly, and Caius took off her mask. He dives down and kisses her passionately, holding her closer to him as he slides his tongue into her mouth. She kisses him back with equal passion, holding onto his hand as he dipped her low in a slow romantic dance.

"I never knew you are a romantic, Caius," Lara said, once Caius releases her lips from his. He brought them back upright and slowly brought her to a slow dance. Everyone watches the new bride dancing with Caius, and they all smiles up at them.

"She sure is a beautiful one," Bella said to Alice, and Alice smiles.

"She shall be the future Queen. And, oh, she can make Caius happy again! Oh, great!" Alice said, watching the future with her powers. She saw Lara smiling up at Caius while he smiles back at her. She even saw them make love, and the blood on the sheets proves that she is a virgin. She screams for him to pound into her faster, and he spills all his seed inside her again and again and-

She stopped thinking. There it was, the bad omen. She saw Athenadora in the castle, ready to kill Lara. She is half human, or so she had heard, and killing her would be nothing. She saw that she is inching closer to the royal couple dancing in the crowd, and with that, Alice shouted for the one person who knew what is happening right at this moment.

"Edward!" Alice shouted, and Edward saw it all. He lounges in and caught Athenadora by her arms, and swung her to the ceilings. She hit the ceiling and came crashing down onto the floor, cracked up and staring up at Caius.

"Hello, my husband… I am back…" Athenadora said softly, not being able to speak louder after Edward crushed her throat by throwing her to the ceiling. "I am back… I've come back to you…"

"Alex!" the young white haired king called, and Alex appears by his side immediately. The sudden appearance of the ex Queen surprised Lara, and Jane came to her rescue in time to pull her out of harm's way.

"Are you alright, Lara?" Jane asked her, and Lara nodded her head, not being able to speak after being so surprised.

"You know what to do…" Caius said to Alex, and Alex nodded. He and Demetri both dragged Athenadora, and she is never seen again by anyone in the whole wide world.

Caius held out a hand to Lara, and she waste no time to run to him and hold his hand, sinking into his embrace. Caius held her tightly, not wanting to let her go.

"Don't be afraid. It's over now. No one can harm you now… You shall be my Queen, and you shall be by my side. Our love shall shine everlastingly, and we shall be together forever…"

"You promised… don't ever forget them…" Lara said, afraid of letting him go. Caius understand why she is afraid. She is alone in this world, and no one is left to look after her if she were to be thrown out of this castle. But he wanted her. Hell, he wanted her. He wanted her for so long, and tonight, he shall sink himself inside her and mark her as his forever.

"I will make love with you tonight," Caius said to her, feeling her reddening to a degree of embarrassment. "I want to sink myself into your open legs, and make you come thousands of times. We shall make love forever, and I will never leave you."

"Our young queen-to-be sure has a way of showing the world that she is shy…" Demetri mumbles to himself, chortling when he said them.

"Our young queen-to-be sure has a way of showing the world that she is shy…" Demetri mumbles to himself, chortling when he said them.

Caius pulls her to the dance floor again, and they danced through the dance floor, ignoring everyone else and having only each other in their eyes. Caius dipped her low, his lips brushed her chest while Lara held onto his neck, throwing one of her free arm above her head and arched herself into him. Caius pulls them back up and twirled her around the ballroom dance floor, pleased that she only had her eyes on him while he, too, had his eyes focused entirely on her. She had his undivided attention, and he wanted it to be like that forever. That's when he finds himself admiring the peculiar color of her eyes, loving the pools within it. That's when he allows himself to grace on a small smile for her, earning several gasp of surprise and shock from everyone in the ballroom. Lara had succeeded in capturing the heart of the cold and icy white King, the most violently merciless vampire leader of the Volturi, Caius.

"At first," Alex started, chatting with Edward nonchalantly like a long lost brother. Edward was surprised with it at first, but feels fine after he read his mind, knowing that Alex is a friendly vampire and means him no harm. Were it not for the orders that came from the Three Kings, he wouldn't have wanted to harm another vampire's hair. "I hated her. I mean, look at her, she is so frail. Like a human."

"But over time you begun to like her yeah?" Demetri said to him, smiling his crooked smile sinisterly. "Don't tell me you've liked her yeah? She is the bride yeah? Stop liking her or Caius will have your head yeah?"

"Stop it," Alex said childishly. His less than manly voice did him no justice, and Alice laughed out loud at the strange sound elicited from him. "Lady Lara is so nice and kind to me. She gave me a few of her favorite books because I happen to read it over her shoulders. She even ask me to accompany her to go shopping, knowing that I don't really like to be cooped up in the castle grounds. She is so nice, whoever doesn't like her?"

"And this dress is a gift from her," Jane said, intercepting her brothers. "Hello Edward, hello Bella. I trust you both are fine now?"

"We are, thank you for asking, Lady Jane," Edward said with a bow, while Bella smiles.

"Don't call me Lady Jane. Just Jane would suffice. Lara she doesn't like to be called Lady as well, so don't start on it or she will be upset. You know what it was like when Caius knew she is upset… he'll turn the whole castle upside down if he knew someone has been upsetting his beloved…" Jane said to them with a small smile, and watches the King and future Queen dances lovingly on the dance floor.

"She is very nice to me. She gave me all sorts of things from her own cupboard, and told me to dress in colorful dresses other than black. Master Aro wanted to scold me for not upholding the rules in the castle, but she defended me, saying that she liked what she sees. Then Aro was so pleased with the idea that he lets us out to go shopping with his own credit card!"

"That nice?" Bella said to them, smiling at the sight of the beautiful Lara. Truly, her hair is donned up in jewels and braided all over her hair. There are flowers and pearls as well, and a small silver crown on her head, signifying that he is the King's Bride. "It sure sounds awesome."

"You should come shopping with us as well Bella, oh, and sorry about those pain things. It's an order, so I couldn't say no…" Jane said to them, holding Bella's hand.

"It's alright. Everything is in the past now. Now that the Lady Lara is Nessie's best friend, I think we'll be seeing each other often enough…" Bella said, and hugging her husband's side. Edmund smiles widely at the suggestion.

The arrival of Lara the Fair has caused chaos, and happiness to erupt in the usually cold castle of Volterra. She earns her place within the Kings, and Aro's Queen is let out of her captivity and joins Lara to enjoy the sun. Bella often came to visit the young Queen with her daughter, Renesmee, and together, Jane, Aro's Queen, Lara, Bella and Renesmee all went out to shop together, swiping Aro's card until it couldn't be swiped anymore.

That is when the bills came…

"Master Aro, this is the bill for this month…" Alex said grudgingly, and after giving Aro the bills, he ran out as fast as he can. Aro was curious, whatever it is that would make Alex so scared.

When Aro opens the bills, the paper dropped to the floor in rolls and heaps of papers. The amount they have swiped on his card was over a million dollars…

"Lara Evenskie!" Aro screamed, his scream echoes through the castle. Jane and Lara laughs heartily and ran out of the castle without a care in the world.

This is the life of Lara Evenskie, as she has found her one soul mate, and finally being awarded her place as Caius's blood singer, La Tua Cantante.


End file.
